Hexie Mania

In my Instagram world, English Paper Piecing and hexies are really hot right now. 

There are so many interesting new designs coming out and I know of at least four sew alongs that are centered on EPP and/or hexies. 

I certainly enjoy the process!  I'm a hand baster and find that stage of it quite soothing.  

However, I need to remain practical and not cave into any of the sew alongs right now.  I have two large unfinished hexie/EPP quilts in progress and starting another project would only take time away from each of them.  So I've held back and held back and held back.  

But when I saw the #100days100hexies2017 hashtag pop up in my Instagram feed, I decided to use the daily posts and prompts to motivate myself to produce the 1700 or so hexies I'm going to need to complete the setting I've organized for my Dodecagon blocks.

This is my working diagram (generated in Electric Quilt) and the tally sheet for how many hexies I need and how many I have finished basting.

I had a good start on the scrappy black ones, but still needed 236 -- that took 20 days.

Now I'm working on the yellow ones.

I'm going through hexie papers like they are M&M's!?!

So I was glad to come across this package of light weight cardstock in my office.

Not sure what weight it is, but it's light enough to work well.

Everyday, I punch another 20 papers from a sheet.

And I cut a stack of hexies -- 12 to 16 so they are ready for basting when the opportunity presents!

This weekend, I was able to finish 27 while serving as welcome hostess during a local event.

Don't you love hand stitching out in public?

It's such a great conversation starter -- everyone in curious and wants to know what I'm doing!

The rows of yellow hexies are growing.

(Apparently my blacks have a lot of blue in them since they always photograph navy?)

I'll tackle the green ones next.

And then the pink ones.

If I have stitching time once the day's hexies are basted (trying to do at least 10 a day),

I've started to add the black ones to the dodecagons -- I make two "chains" of hexies.

Once those are complete, I add them to the dodecagon.

Removing the dodecagon papers as I go makes it easier to manipulate the edges and keep them aligned. 

I'm pleased with the progress I'm making though I don't expect I'll get all the needed hexies basted by the end of the 100 days.  Most of the participants are doing a single hexie every day and using a lot of cute prints so it's fun to browse the hashtag once a day and see what's new!

If you are on Instagram, you can check it out by visiting @sewfoxymama or the hashtag #100hexies100days2017.

Mary