Hex Quilt

I can remember being a little girl and watching my Mum create lots and lots of hexes.

Not witchcraft, but hex pieces for an English-style pieced quilt.

Mum was never a quilter or seamstress, and she openly abhorred ironing, but for several summers of my childhood, she was a hand quilter of hundreds of these little hexes.

I can remember being the one to find and make all her papery templates, can still see the peach-colored perfume box she kept all her supplies in – templates, forms, fabric pieces and needles – can see the swatches of fabric made out of nothing but old clothes of hers or her mother-in-law’s.

While cleaning recently, I came across the half-pieced quilt she labored over so long ago, and found the components that were to be added next.

Though I’ve decided right now not to tackle her project, I have decided to start my own “hex quilt”, something I can piece and work on in front of the TV, in the car (if someone else is driving, of course!), or on vacation, since it takes up so little space. I’ve got my own little box of magic now – not a perfume box, but a pink Tupperware of nearly the dimension – filled with all the bits and bobs I need.

It’s slow going – each hex “flower” taking nearly an hour from start to finish, but oh, how I’m loving the process.

(you loosely piece the individual hexes together with an easy-to-see basting stitch, then cut the red thread after the flower is completely pieced)

I’m using nothing but fabric from my own stash to make a new bedroom quilt, and I can see lots of possibilities for the future….but for now, this is the inspiration…

Source: qisforquilter.com via Pinterest

Pretty, no?

I’ll let you know in a few months how it turned out, since I’m guessing it will take me at least that long to complete it.

But I don’t seem to mind the wait, this time…

–Marissa