Modern Hexagon Quilt

 (click image to enlarge)

Drum roll please....  This is the most hexagons I've ever made!!!  Yes, I realize its not all that many in the grand scheme of things, but who doesn't love a good drum roll?

I took a little lap table on a road trip over Thanksgiving and was able to do the English Paper Piecing prep work in the car.  All the hexies are Nicey Jane by Heather Bailey.

Of course, when I saw my (cough cough) amazing stack of hexagons I then had to start planning my quilt.  Would it be huge?  Would it take long to hand piece?  Would it look as unreal as the Grandmother's Flower Garden quilts I had seen before?  So many question, so few hexagons.  Um.  28 to be exact.  Dangit.

I decided to bail out on all that jazz and make my quilt way more modern.  I used 6 long strips of fabric for the background, then I did this cool "fractured" technique to them.  Once I had the background ready, I was able to place my hexagons.

I lined them up 1" apart.  I tried to be as consistent as I possibly could, but you know total perfectionism is a bit over-rated.

So the top was finished.  I had scattered hexies and a fun background.  Once I had it all squared up, I needed a quilting plan.  I wanted to quilt something modern to match the modern feel of the top... but most of the modern quilts I've seen are meandered or straight line quilted.  This quilt was WAY too angular for meandering.  Straight lines were not going to work since the background had no straight line to follow...er...wait... then it hit me- I'll follow the HEXAGON lines to get a cool argyle-esque straight line design.  I marked the whole top with water soluble pen and busted out the walking foot.  I used variegated grey/smoke/white quilting thread.

I've already washed the quilt and it does have a bit of shrinkle going on.  Shrinkle?  You know, when the quilt SHRINKS and CRINKLES.  Mmmm.... shrinkle.

After I take this to our Traditional Quilt Guild next Tuesday, I'm dropping it in the mail to my favorite friend who LOVES pink + red together.  It will look great on those stroller walks.

Modern Hexagon Quilt