Hexagon Charm Quilt :: Calculator

Yesterday, Michelle at I Like Orange Too was wondering how to calculate how many hexagons she needed for her grandmother's flower garden quilt. I was more than happy to oblige, as I found the most uber amazing calculator last summer when I began my hexie obsession. You see, when I take on a new project, I have a kind of fixation that forces me to fully immerse myself and seek out any and all information about it. Sounds helpful, but sure does take up a lot of time.

Anyhow, here's the calculator. You'll love it!

Hexagon Calculator

Hexie Love!

My final stack of hexies!!!

I have over 1500 of these babies all basted and ready to be attached to each other and become one great big hexie family! Pics of the whole fam and details to come soon...

Hexagons :: Centering Tutorial

Ok, hexie addicts, here's a tutorial just for you! Do you have any super cute prints that you'd like to appear centered and straight in your final quilt? Thanks to some recent swaps, I've acquired some amazing Japanese prints that are begging to be featured in my hexie quilt, and I want to make sure to do it right.

Please forgive me if this technique has been obvious to anyone else. I figured it out this week and couldn't wait to share. After making 700 or so, I'm really getting the hang of it! lol Nevermind that I was also excited to figure something out that could make for a good tutorial, so out came the camera phone and the step-by-step...

First, start off with your fabric square and paper hexie. This happy little hippo is perfect for this.

Normally, I center the paper hexie with one of the straight sides facing the corner of the fabric.

Unfortunately, this only works with a random print. What you'll end up with is a crooked hippo. This does not make hippo happy.

So here's what I figured out. You want to place your paper hexie over the image, with the point of your paper facing down.

I like to lift up the top point to make sure that the image is centered between the two straight sides, on left and right. Also check to make sure it's not too far up or down between the top and bottom points.

And there you have it! A well-centered hexie, ready to join his friends.

There he is, happy to be around all his other well-placed friends. I think this ends up making for a very nice detail that will add something special to a very detailed and special hexagon charm quilt.

I hope you find this tutorial helpful and it enhances your hexies as it has mine. How are your hexies coming along?

Hexagons :: Swap Time!

I had a fantastic time doing the hexagon swap over on Flickr. The girls were all amazing, and here's what I received to prove it! Thanks Kelly!

There's nothing I love more than a fab package in the mail, especially one wrapped up so nice! On the other side of the card it says real small "made for you by Kelly" and then space for a note. So cute! Where did you get these, girl?

And this is what I found when I opened it! Gorgeous! I was so excited to receive one of the cutie-cute pieces I had commented on in the photostream.

I absolutely adore the hand-embroidery. It totally makes this little bag, nevermind the super cute surprise lining. It immediately jumped into my bag where it houses my new knockoff aviators from NYC. My hubs calls them my Officer Poncharello sunglasses. I just love them.

Cute hexies! A few of these I recognize, but I love that I don't know what most of these are. Fun surprises to mix up my charm quilt.

The obligatory macro shot. :)

The whole kit and kaboodle. The best!

Have you started making hexies yet? You should. It's addicting. And join a swap. Those are addicting, too.

Hexagons :: Swap Time!

A big thanks to our girls, Heather and Kerri, who run the { Handsome } Hexies - THE SWAP group over at Flickr! I had the opportunity to participate in my very first completed hexie swap and I had a ball doing it! From the moment I found out who my partner was, I was checking out her Flickr favorites and putting together some fabulous prints to "hexagonize" for her. It was a lot of fun, so thanks ladies for organizing everything!

Just like Frauline Maria, I love packages tied up with strings, especially pink ones. So I made sure to send a cute little package out to my partner.

Here are all the lovelies, all laid out with their coordinating pouch where they'll live during the journey all the way across the USA to my partner. I figure they like to stay warm and cozy.

I always have to throw in an artsy shot, just for my creative sensibilities. If you haven't figured out by now, once I figured out my macro button I sure started to take advantage of it!

How did your swap go? Go check out the group and see all the fabulousness that was created!

Hexagons + Beach = Bliss

Ahhh...hexagons. A beautiful long weekend in Siesta Key, full of hexagons, sand and surf.

A big shout out to Courteney over on Flickr for swapping me such fabulous scraps! A dream come true full of Heather Ross, cutie-patootie elephants, and more.

Here's my little beach kit. A nice deep Tupperware container, as windproof as possible. I had a little hexie blow away on me, but I found him over near some sand castles.

What a beautiful weekend, filled with beautiful sights, feelings, people, and activities.

I think I'm sick...with Hexagon fever!

It's official...I've caught hexagon fever! It is darn contagious!

After just a couple of minutes on Melanie's blog, Texas Freckles, I was hooked! She makes it seem so simple, that the daunting task of creating 1200 of these little guys somehow goes into denial.

So I quickly put together a little kit and churned out 22 of the little guys yesterday. Here they are, in all their macro shot, stacked up glory. Ah, so pretty.

Ooh, a shot using depth of field! These hexies are fancy! lol

Here's my little kit. Can you tell I used to sell Tupperware?!

I cut up all of my stash, and even created my own charm packs to cut and swap...all before I even made 1 little hex!

While I know this is a stashbusting project, I may or may not have ordered half a dozen charm packs just so I would have something to swap with the girls on Flickr. I like joining in!

I have 26 as of today...where is your hexie count?