hexagon happenings

Back in February I brought out the pieces of my niece's quilt to decide on a layout and a plan for finishing it by Christmas. I mentioned then that I might make a few more blocks which would enable me to make the whole quilt a hexagon. I've decided that's a neat idea and that's the way I'm going to head with it. I ordered some solid fabric for the interstitial triangles and managed to make two of the remaining four blocks this weekend.

I'm really happy with them! I'm also happy that I had the instructions for these all written up and handy. I would never have been able to re-engineer them otherwise. The hardest part was sifting through my fabrics for the right combinations of prints and colors. And of course the endless problem of not enough solids to pick from.

This was the first set of prints I came up with. Lively, no? 

I really enjoyed how awesome this triangle unit looked after I pressed all the seams. Look at how lined up everything is! It's not even trimmed. Or sewn with pins. That's how handy trimming just a tiny triangle off at the correct point and angle can be (also described in the block instructions). Everything just lines up so much easier. 

Adding the pretty celery green toned this whole block down. Still lively, but a little bit contained. This way it looks to me like a little flower garden. Imagine if I'd used black or dark gray… it would look much edgier. What about a whole quilt of that?! Nice, I'd say. 

Instead I opted to use the dark gray in this block to offset the relatively lighter, simpler prints. I wasn't sure how the ricrac stripe would behave in this block, but it ended up looking kind of neat. I am glad I decided not to try using it for the center, though. I don't think that would have worked out as well. 

I only need two more blocks made up and my navy fabric, then I can start assembling the top. My mom volunteered to make a couple for me, which will be fun! Mom, it's your turn now!