Fabric Mutt – Hexagon Mini Quilt

This post is part of the A Season by Hand series. Find the schedule here.
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a season by handOur guest today is Heidi of Fabric Mutt.  Heidi is a busy mom to three little girls, but manages to squeeze in some amazing sewing too.  She shares lots of tutorials, and this spring she hosted the Girl Friday Sews Blog Hop.

Today she’s sharing some fun hexagon projects with us.  And, if you’re anything like me, you enjoy spending time making hexagons…but rarely know what to make them into!  I especially love her use of textured neutrals {Yarn Dyed Essex Linen} as a base for the hexagons, it really makes them stand out.

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Valentine hexagon pillows -- you can find the tutorial on my blog
Valentine hexagon pillows — you can find the tutorial on my blog here

Sewing by hand didn’t come easily to me at first because it means that you have to go slowly…you have to take your time. As a mom who spends her days with three rambunctious little girls, “slowly” isn’t something that happens often in my life. I spend most of my time racing from one thing to the next: cleaning, cooking, errands, playtime, homeschooling, sewing (if I’m lucky). It’s one big, happy round of craziness. The idea of sitting still in one place and picking up hand stitching just didn’t seem practical.

And then I discovered hexagons.

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I love these little pieces of fabric. You don’t need any special tools or patterns to follow, and there’s nothing too complex about the process. It’s just you, your fabric scraps, a stack of paper pieces, and your needle and thread. The whole project fits easily in a plastic bag if need be, though I like to use my Traveling in Circles Tote which I made a few months back using Becca’s tutorial which you can find here. While I often carry them with me to appointments and lessons, my favorite time to sew hexagons is in the evenings before bed.

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I’m a huge fan of Denyse Schmidt’s fabric collections. All of her lines have a vintage style to them that I adore, and I’ve been collecting her prints for over a year now. A few months ago, I started working on a stack of 1.5″ hexagons using only her fabrics — every print I had in my stash that was large enough. The result is this mini quilt which I call Plain & Fancy. The hexagons were sewn together by hand, but I machine stitched them onto a background of black yarn dyed Essex linen. I used linen for the binding as well so that the hexagons would be the star of the show.

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I love this little quilt. It’s simple and colorful, and it reminds me of countless hours spent in the evenings with my husband after the kids were in bed. We chat, we watch old episodes of Hawaii 5-0 or Rosemary & Thyme, and I sew hexagons. It may not seem too exciting to the rest of the world, but it’s one of the best parts of my day.

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So I will always think fondly of hexagons. They taught me that it’s okay to sit still for a few minutes and breathe. That sewing doesn’t have to be finished in an hour or less. That a project you love is truly worth waiting for.

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28 Comments

  1. That’s one of the reasons I like hexies too, I feel more like it’s ok to take my time. Not that there is anyone standing next to my sewing machine tapping their watch while I sew or anything, but I still feel more like I can take my time with hand sewing!

  2. So lovely as always Heidi. I love to take my time with sewing too – and remember that its something to enjoy not to see as yet another task to fill up my time. Thanks for sharing.

  3. Thank you for sharing your little quilt, it’s a wonderful idea for using hexies. I look forward to evenings also…I love my hand sewing time of day!!

  4. your hexy projects are gorgeous and I’m full of admiration,. I’m currently working on my first ever hexy project. It will also be my last. I love hand sewing, but this is pure torture!

  5. I do the same with handwork- keeps my hands busy while I sit with my Husbeast. Whether it’s hand-sewing, knitting, etc, it’s all soothing in its slow rhythm.

    The mini quilt is gorgeous!

  6. What a delightful little quilt! Thanks for sharing your story about the peace at the ends of your busy days.

  7. Thank you for sharing! Recently, I’ve felt too busy for my hexagons, but I’m thinking it’s time to slow down and start stitching again.

  8. I love the little round bucket she has to store her EPP paraphernalia in. I think I might just be making one of those for myself. I also love the hexagon strips on the quilt.

  9. What a wonderful mini quilt….I have mentioned before how much I love those cushions too. I am starting to think that doing all over 1 1/2 ” hexagon baby quilt may have been too much. The way you used the hexies here give me alternative ideas….have a great weekend

  10. Our rental property, that is! Yes, it’s up for sale, and over the next two weeks, we’ll be packing and moving. We’ve been in this home for three years and four months, and would have loved to have stayed here until December this year when we are moving home, up north, but that isn’t to be … obviously.

  11. I haven’t tried hexagons yet, but maybe that’s what I need to slow down. That sounds like a lovely end to the day (and I love Rosemary & Thyme – I haven’t watched it in a while!). Your Hexy hearts are very pretty – thanks for the inspiration!

  12. Today the author of Hexagons Made Easy , Jen Eskridge, will transform any perception that hexagon quilts are tedious and time-consuming. Her simple technique for making hexagons for quilting is a super-speedy alternative to English paper piecing, all with no Y-seams or hand sewing! Learn the quick facing technique Jen uses in a jiffy—try a pot holder, a pillow, or a table runner first, and then move on to larger quilts.

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