Y-Seam Warrior Link-up #3 -- Indulging in the Morris Hexathon!!

I'm not sure why I even thought about saying out loud that I wasn't going to begin any new projects in May?!  That resolve only lasted until I read about Barbara Brackman's new Morris Hexathon.

You can be sucked into it too just by going HERE.

It's only three blocks along so far so you won't have any trouble catching up!  The weekly posts include the patterns for hexagon.  I'm pulling fabrics from my stash of reproduction prints.

 

I'm using Marti Michell's Set G templates (a little case of the "lazies").

They are a little smaller than Barbara's templates and I'm machine-piecing (of course) instead of doing EPP (English Paper Piecing).  So far my blocks, though smaller, are the same size as each other -- hopefully the others will match as well.

 

I used G44a (a half diamond)

and G44 (the full 60 degree diamond) 

to cut the pieces for the first block, Westminster Star.  Because Barbara is a historian, she is also including narration pertaining to Englishman, William Morris and his design work which is the focus of her newest fabric line, Morris Earthly Paradise Prints. 

I pieced this block as I would tumbling blocks, stitching three pairs of diamonds together and then inserting a half diamond into each pair.

I know some would piece two sets of three diamonds together making two half stars.  Then after setting the two halves together, go back and set in the six background half-diamonds.  But I've found that I get more accurate centers on 6-pointed stars with this approach.  I suggest you try both and see which gives you the best results. 

I think it's because I can rotate the center seams in a swirl more easily giving me a flatter center.

  Once the three sections are set together, I add the last three half-diamonds.

For the second block, I used the 3 1/2" triangle on Marti's 60-degree multi-size Diamond Tool.

Love this tool because I can use it to "measure" the strip, 

for the triangles needed for the Crystal Palace block. 

I pieced the two blocks while working on my Scrappy Tumbling blocks project.  I'm being spontaneous about the fabric pull as you can see -- might work, might not work?

The third block is named Camelot Star -- Barbara shares some of the Camelot legend.  Several years ago, I had lunch with a walking group near Dorchester, England on top of the flat hilltop reputed to be the site of King Arthur's magical court.  This is my fabric pull for that block and it will come together this week  as I continue to finish setting the Scrappy Tumbling blocks quilt together.

I was gratified to read Carole's comment on last Friday's post.  She purchased my DVD, Set-In Piecing Simplified and I directed her to also read the posts from my 2014 Diamond Star Playtime series (they are all gathered together under the tab at the top of this page).

"I also want to say thank you for the diamond star tutorials. I'm playing along with Barbara Brackman's hexathon, and your tips are proving invaluable. I wouldn't even have attempted it without your excellent tips. Thanks!!"

 

So have you tried something with y-seams in the past month?  If so, let's see it.  I've started the link-up off by sharing an older post from my Diamond Star Playtime series showing how I piece this week's block. 

 

You can share from your blog, Flickr, or Instagram -- just link-up below!  Doesn't matter if it's hand or machine-pieced, EPP -- I just love to see quilters taking on the challenge and enjoying it!!

 

Thanks for sharing!!

 

Mary Huey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up