Hexagon quilt update the millionth

I know you have all been waiting and waiting for an update on the Pink and Gray Hexagon quilt. It had reached a point where while I was making progress the updates looked very similar and of course all the photos were near identical. I have finally reached a new stage in the quilt. I've basted about 2200 hexies, out of 2900. (Rough numbers. I DO have the exact count, but I am not writing this from home.) I have sewn most of the hexies I have into flowers. I estimate I'm about 80 flowers short, but I'm not 100% certain until I get closer. I have started sewing them together, exciting, right?

I have drawn out a rough idea of what I want the layout to be. This is flexible, if they fit together better in another way I can change it, but it gives me a map to work off of and lets me know approximately what my progress is. I'm sewing the flowers together as indicated on the chart, but I don't always sew all the way around each flower. Right now I'm mainly interested in getting them attached so that I can see where I am, than in a finished solid piece.

In this picture you can see one large piece. These are all connected in some way, tho as you can tell not on all sides. The white arrows point at seams I've done, and the green arrows show what I have yet to sew. Yet if you lay it out on the table, and smooth it down, there are no holes or missing hexies, follow? My idea is that if I do this now, I can stop thinking about layout and placement and just sit down in front of the tv and mindlessly finish all the seams.

If you look super closely at the next picture, at the arrow, you can see a straight pin. Across the open space in the flowered hex there is another pin as well. Those pins are there to point at each other so if I lose track of where the large pieces go I can line them up.  Honestly tho, the more I add the easier it is to keep my place. It's like giant jigsaw pieces. I have three of them done now, and since I started at a corner they all have straight edges to line things up.

I'm somewhere between 1/5 and 1/4 done with the body of the quilt.  In this picture, the ones marked in orange are sewn together, except that I worked on it more since I took this picture and it's actually done all the way to the top edge of the picture.  The graph itself is folded, so you're only seeing 1/4 of the full layout.  The green on the edges will be a row of white/neutrals and then there will be another row of pink outside of that. Or perhaps pink and white. I plan to use up my leftovers in the border.

I have had a TON of help with this one. Every time I spread it out this helpful guy comes over to check on me. He's not at all interested in my needle and thread, but does feel pretty strongly that he needs to hold it all down. He also seems to be a major Friends fan and will stare at the iPad like he's following along.

On  side note, I just saw this episode last week, and I loved it just as much as the first time.

Mike is out of town all week this week, and I made a point to clear the dining room table just to work on this project. I'm considering bailing on all other obligations and seeing just how far I can get. (It's not like I can leave the kids home alone and go run or anything!) My goal for finishing the top has been August 31st of this year. I don't think it's likely that I can do that, but I just noticed that I began the quilt on October 30, 2012. Perhaps I can aim for finishing it by it's 3rd birthday?

I'm linking up with Trish's Inspiration Monday today. Make sure you go over and see what projects everyone else has in the works.

Hexagon Update #1zillion #stillnotdone

I know, you are all waiting on the edges of your seats for an update. Great news! You can see all the updates you ever wanted if you follow me on Instagram! But I suppose I can update here as well if you aren't an IG addict like myself (I'd give up Facebook first).

I now have 2195 hexies basted. Only about 600 to go! SO crazy to be so close. I've sewn together about 130 flowers. I started to piece parts of the quilt top together and that was SO exciting. I worked on it for an entire day and in my head I was kicking ass and taking names. So I had the brilliant idea to lay them all out and see just how far I had to go....

Yikes. Turns out I have a long long ways to go- the part I spent all that time working on is the corner by her foot! It turns out I have to think a lot more about the lay out than I expected, or I end up with too many partial flowers. (And to be fair, the area with flowers on the final quilt will actually be inside this frame, I'm doing a border of white that will be approximately where this outline is, but it's not basted so I had to lay out flowers.)

My goal was to finish by her birthday this year, which would give me 7 more months. Seems a bit impossible from here, but it's not a goal if it's easy, right?

 It's all about the baste, about the baste, more hexies!

Hexagon update #23-2014

I haven't updated in a while! Summer has been so busy and we haven't had a ton of sitting around time. And maybe I might have tested out a new EPP pattern as well...

I've made 25 more flowers, bringing my flower total up to 50.

 

And then I saw someone's La Passacaglia quilt and fell in love. I've long been planning that my next EPP quilt would be mixed shapes and while I expected that I'd invent my own pattern, now I don't have to. I ordered a small set of pieces to test it out.

 

The pieces are so tiny that it's like a while new technique. In fact, I couldn't figure out how to thread baste them so I had to learn to glue baste. I've done very little- I'm reserving it as a reward for when I've had a long day or have worked "enough" on the pink quilt. This one will take me even longer than the pink one, in the end.

As always, linking up with Jessica at Life Under Quilts.

 

 

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Hexagon update #22-2014

No basting this week but I did sew together 8 flowers.

 

And then I laid out the 50 I have for a little looksee. What do you think?

 

 

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Hexagon update #21-2014

This almost feels like cheating! I basted ONE hexie. I sewed together five flowers tho, because I was combining the last couple weeks into my tray and no more would fit!! See this?

 

2056 hexies right there. So I guess I break from basting for a while to make room in the box.

I'm still fairly nervous that all these different pinks will look good together in the end.

Linking up with Jessica at Life Under Quilts.

 

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Hexagon update #20- 2014.

Over the last two weeks I've basted another 31 hexies and completed one special flower. This brings me to 2056 done with 864 to go.

Remember when in sent the hexie kits out to my friends and family? I've gotten enough back to make a flower. I'm hoping there will be three or four.

Front porch sewing.

On the boat sewing.

I also cut what I think will be the home stretch of pinks, giving me roughly 550 2.5" squares. I'm mostly guessing here, but I'll need to do a few more white and gray as well.

Linking up with Jessica at Life Under Quilts.

 

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Hexagon update #19-2014

Last week we drove from South Dakota to Alabama and back (more on this later, hopefully). I had high hopes for making hexagons during the 20 hour drive, but turns out my children are very needy. Then when we were there I had other things to do- like eat all the things. Regardless, I managed to baste 115 more hexies and sew together four more flowers. This brings me to 2025 done (over 2000!!!) and 895 (or so) to go. Hopefully soon I'll have more exciting pictures to show than more pink hexies in my little blue box. Also, I asked Mike if he'd wash the windshield so my pictures were prettier. He declined to stop on the interstate to do so.

 

Linking up with Jessica at Life Under Quilts.

 

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Hexagon update #18-2014

I missed a few weeks there but I'm back in the swing of things again! Only 26 this week due to pesky counting problems. One more week until summer vacation and 40+ hours in the car! where I hope to accomplish many many hexies. (Unless of course it's my turn to drive, duh.)

 

Current count: 1910 with 1010 to go.

Linking up at Life Under Quilts.

 

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Hexagon update #15-2014

I missed a couple of weeks- the end of the school year always gets so busy- but came back with 32 this week for a total of 1816 down with 1104 to go!

I also stitched together five or six flowers,which barely even counts as progress, but there ya go.

I decided that I wanted a little bit of love from some of the women nearest and dearest to me in the quilt, so I made three dozen little letters with a fabric square, a hex, needle, thread and instructions and sent them off. They are starting to trickle in slowly I'm so excited. (Mom, if you are reading this, I haven't mailed yours yet!) These special ones are all the same fabric, and it's the only one with purple, so that I can point them out to the Princess.

Linking up with Jessica, again.

 

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Hexagon update #14-2014

I made hexies this week! I worked on some bright pinks and rounded off my 30 with a couple whites.

I also stitched together another 5 or 6 flowers. Laid out side by side they all look like this:

I plan to mix in some white/creams as filler so they won't be all together like this, but it gives me an idea of how it will look. I'm torn between love and worry that I won't like all the different hues together. The variation within some of them is due to different color papers inside.

Updated count: 1784 done, 1136 to go. Total flower count: 28. Ways to go: a long ways.

 

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Hexagon update #13-2014

I failed to update last week, even tho I had my 30 hexies done, and now this week I am posting to report a big fat zero. Here's my sweet girl helping me count last week.

 

Current count: 1754 down. 1176 to go. Sooo lovely to watch this number go down down down.

Linking up with Jessica at Life Under Quilts.

 

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Hexagon update #12-2014

1724 down, 1206 to go. I think. This week: 30 hexies and two flowers.

The weather was lovely Saturday so I sat on the porch to make my hexies. The cute fabric here is the last of the scraps from The Princess's other quilt.

Linking up with Jessica at Life Under Quilts.

 

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Hexagon update #11-2014

 

This week I worked on the white filler hexies. It's hard to tell but there's a couple different mostly white prints in this pile. I'm going to have to spend some time with the cutting mat soon, and some time at the fabric store.

1694 down. 1236 to go.

Linking up at Life Under Quilts.

 

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Hexagon update #10- 2014

33 more for a total of 1664 with 1266 to go... I'm gonna need to sew some flowers together or buy a second box soon. Or maybe just relocate the gray ones for the time being.

 

Linking up with Jessica at Life Under Quilts. This week I will make it around to everyone else's!

 

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Hexagon update #9-2014

So you may (not) have noticed that I skipped last week? Yeah, I didn't do any hexies. I had already told myself that each week's goal is 30, period. But of course in my head I knew I was operating in a deficit.

Saturday night we had some friends over for dinner. After dinner we sat around the table with drinks (my new favorite drink: the Bourbon Smash) and by the end of the evening I was at 45 hexies. My feeling is that I'll be able to catch up fairly easily, so long as I don't miss too many weeks.

Current hex count: 1631 with 1299 to go!

Linking up with Jessica at Life Under Quilts.

 

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