Hexagon Organization and Storage

Since I seem to be leading an informal hexagon quiltalong, I thought you might be interested in seeing how I organize my hexes.  Putting them in plastic baggies is too messy, and it hurt my senses to just throw them in a loose pile in a basket. I have shoebox sized rubbermaid boxes for the rainbow quilt when they are sewn together, but what to do with them while they are loose? The pink and gray hexagon quilt won't be sewn into flowers as I go (since it's not flowers!) so I need a way to store them.  A lot of people on the internet use these handy clear boxes both for storage and for work in progress.

I don't have any of those boxes, and I try really hard not to spend money on stuff that I can make do without.  Since I have more than one hex project going, I need a way to keep them apart as well. If I'm working on hexes at home I use this largish basket to hold all my stuff. It has a little bowl for papers, scissors, thread, needles, and my travel pouch (when it's not traveling.)

I throw my completed into this little hexagon shaped basket before I iron them.

For the completed hexes, I wanted them to be kept neatly contained without purchasing anything. I have been saving the cute little cardboard boxes from Birchbox and they turn out to be the perfect size.  I used the cardboard from a cereal box and carefully cut dividers, and then taped them into place. These work perfectly!

(Fun challenge, how many hexes do you think are in that box? Answer in the comments.)

They are identical on the outside, so I need to find a cute way to designate each one at a glance.  (Yes, I could just write on them, but that's no fun.) The problem is that I am quickly outgrowing my little birchboxes and I'm going to need to find a larger solution. I think this picture is stunning, I wonder where one finds that tray?

Source: lockerz.com via Lisa on Pinterest

There are a lot of different way of storing them, and looking through flickr and pinterest will certainly give you ideas. I'd love to see how you are storing yours, both in progress and as they wait to be combined into a quilt. Feel free to write your own post, or just chat about it on twitter (#hexchat).

If you're new here and are interested in joining the (very very informal!) quiltalong, you can jump in at any time. The tutorial for basting the hexagons can be found here. Our flickr group can be found here. As soon as I have a chance to write it up I'll show you how I join them into flowers (though you can also find this information by googling!)

Pink and gray hexagon quilt for baby girls

Remember when I told you I was obsessed with sewing hexagons? Well I talked and talked and dreamed and talked about the idea of doing a pink and gray hexagon quilt for the Princess with my friend Lisa from gitdownkitty.  Lisa happens to work at a quilt shop AND be a very generous person.  Friday in the mail I found this.



Guess it's time to put her money where my mouth is. (I'm gonna need more gray, don't you think?)



I'm starting with these four, because I love them. (Seriously, who does not love polka dots?)



This fabric has little gray butterflies on it. Lauren loves "flyflies".



I'm planning to do a layout that is somewhere between this (yes, I know this is not a quilt):

Source: weheart.co.uk via Lisa on Pinterest

and this:

Source: quiltwhileyoureahead.typepad.com via Lisa on Pinterest

but all in shades of gray and pink. In theory, I'd like to finish this one before the rainbow one, but we'll see.

I am obsessed with paper pieced hexagons

It's true, I already have the other hexagon quilt started. But I couldn't stop thinking about making a much more simple gray and pink one. And then I had this little leftover bit from the Princess's chevron quilt and I couldn't resist making a little hex from it.  Next thing you know I'll be renaming the blog Hex. List. No Life.

Random Friday: No beach today.

• We've been to the lake every day since Saturday. We're taking today off to recover. It's a lot of fun, but there's not a lot of relaxing. I need to stay home and let me kids be unattended in their room for a day.
• Six days on the lake and only I am sunburned. The kids are not. I win the mom prize.
• This morning, I cleaned poop off the floor of every room of this apartment, EXCEPT the bathrooms. I'd like to let someone else be mom for a while, k?
• The Princess has forgotten how to put herself back to sleep. She wakes up every 60-90 minutes. All. Night. Long. I am tired.
• The hexes are coming along, thanks for asking. I'm not putting any pressure on myself to finish quickly. I'm still looking for a nice ticker type thing to add to my sidebar, but meanwhile I'm at 74 hexes made, out of that I've done 6 flowers and of those six I've made 1 into the full ring.
• Mom is still here, she leaves a week from today. I've gotten a lot less done than I expected with her here. We have had some terrific yard sale luck though, I've been trying to photograph some of it to share with you.

Books Read this Week:

• Free-Range Kids, How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry)
  Almost done, still enjoying it.
• Just Like Heaven
   by Julia Quinn. As seen in the picture at the top. Classic Quinn.

(So I don't mind the new blogger screen, but where is my handy Amazon sidebar search box thingy???)

How was your week? What's new? What are you dong this weekend?

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