QAYG Hexalogacabin - a cunning plan - quick tute

Funny really how things come full circle (or in this case, full hexie).

This weekend will be the first anniversary of my brother’s death.  Not the cheeriest opening to a tutorial, I grant you, but I mention it because that time in my life was what started me sewing again, out of necessity for focus and displacement.

For my Summer Hexalong project I wanted to maintain some form of connection to the paper piecing that I was doing exactly this time a year ago …

I love hand sewing and I haven’t been doing enough of it recently.  I find it calming and rhythmic and the crafty equivalent of tea and toast on a cold winter’s day.  So far I’ve been machining my hexalogacabins, but that’s no good for a portable project, or for the vibe that I want to pursue at the moment




Back in October 2010 (I had only been sewing & blogging for about two months) I had this brilliant idea to make a double sided quilt using paper pieced 1” hexies with the batting stuffed inside … (I’d never even heard of QAYG at this stage, so I thought I’d invented it! LOL )

I ended up using all the hexies for pincushions, but the idea stayed in the back of my mind …




Ripple dissolve to now and Lily’s Quilts Summer Hexalong …

I finally found the blog post that inspired me to do this in the first place - Lee at Freshly Pieced has a lovely tutorial here …  I didn’t alternate the sides on mine, I just went straight round.

So far you’ve seen these two blocks … thank you for all the lovely comments here and on flickr, btw … click on pics to go to my quick tute

I did get a few questions asking how I was going to join these little lovelies …

Aha! 

As Baldrick would say … I have a cunning plan.



When I saw these fab hexies by Silly Lil Doe I filed em in my brain along with all my other hexie plans …  She used a great tutorial here (I don’t have these templates, so I improvised and cut mine from template plastic …)


This is my quick tute to show you how easy it is to QAYG a hexie! 

(I cut my backing fabric 1” larger than the hexie/batting.)

At last I have a properly portable project … If I sew up a whole load of hexalogacabins in advance I can just sandwich and join the little darlings at my leisure, wherever I may be …

Hmmm, talking of sandwiches … off to make tea and toast and go back to bed with a book on this wintery summer’s day!

Do let me know if you give it a go …

Scrappy Hexacabinalong – Quick Tutorial

 

I’ve made a couple of these hexagon log cabins now, as part of LilysQuilts Summer Hexalong …

This one from yesterday uses strips that are uniform in size (1.5”).

They are sooooo easy to make, and if you choose different sized hexies for your central piece you can really get some variety going! 








I received my Happy Mochi Yum Yum winnings from Lily’sQuilts today and I couldn’t resist having a little play.






Vicky, aka Patchwork Queen (my lovely BritQuiltSwap partner) asked me if I’d used a tutorial, but I hadn’t – I just busked it, so I thought I’d make a quick tutorial for anyone who fancies making these … they’re easy peasy lemon squeezy and a grrrrreat way to use up your scraps!

This tutorial is aimed at everyone from absolute beginner up - no meaningful measurements here … You can choose whatever size hexagon you want as your central piece and just build from there until you get to your finished size.

If you want them to fill a square block, just keep going until oversize and then trim … If you want to square them off with a white background, that’s easy too … just a couple of triangles and rectangles to add …

I hope the following tute is clear – I’ve numbered each stage so that if you just want to right click and save em they’ll be easy to view.  It's not difficult, so you should be able to make one in just a little longer than it takes you to read this!

Have fun!

Happy Hexing!  Don’t forget to check out Lily'sQuilts for the Hexalong, or take a peek on Lily’s flickr page at all the lovely stuff people are making and join in the fun  …