Morris Hexathon

A couple of months ago, I started following along with Barbara Brackman's most recent challenge.
(barbarabrakman.blogspot.com/2016/04morris-hexathon-introduction.html)

Barbara is a quilt historian and fabric designer and she takes her inspiration in this challenge from architecture and architectural elements that were present in Robert Morris' (1834-1896) England. Robert Morris's name is strongly associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement and among other things he designed textiles in that era, the later part of the 19th century.

Barbara has a current Moda fabric line called "Morris Earthly Paradise" and no doubt she hopes to lure people to use her fabrics for this challenge in which she provides a weekly pattern for 26 consecutive weeks. The patterns are for variations of a 4 inch hexagon... the 4 inch dimension is the measurement of one of the six exterior faces of the hexagon. In actuality, the finished hexagons measure approximately 6.5 inches wide by 8 inches high.

Since I had a nice stash of batik fabrics, I decided that I would use those for my hexies.  (Many of you realize that not only are batiks beautiful, but they don't have a right or a wrong side, which is another plus, as far as I'm concerned.)

I've done quite a bit of work with hexagons measuring 3/4 inch and 1 inch using the hand-piecing method called English Paper Piecing (EPP), but the larger size of these hexies meant that I could sew many of them with my machine. Barbara provides the pattern, but it is up to each individual to figure out their own technique for putting the pieces together.

The first challenge I faced was figuring out how to lift the pattern from her blog and place it on a blank "page" and then resize it to the correct size. The photo above shows a successfully printed pattern.

I decided that instead of printing on card stock, as I might if I were doing EPP, I would copy the pattern onto freezer paper. I then number and cut out all the pieces and iron each template to the wrong side of the appropriate piece of fabric. I then cut each shape out, adding 1/4 inch seam allowances.

So far, I have only EPPed one of the blocks, the rest I have managed to do a fairly acceptable job constructing them on my sewing machine.

Can you guess the one I sewed by hand?

That's right, the one I rotated and put in the upper left in this photo.

Here are some other photos...

I think I am getting better at those "Y" seams, but the biggest challenge I have faced so far are those blocks like the one on the lower left that have all the points converging at the center. I'm left with a lump of points underneath that don't settle into a nice flat swirl.

I'm not really sure what I will do with my 26+ completed hexies. That will be another challenge. I'm sure Barbara will suggest some patterns, in fact I think on that introduction she shows some examples of quilts with hexagons placed in concentric circles. Right now I'm envisioning setting them with a neutral batik background, perhaps in "stripes" to form a table runner. But I have 20 weeks to go, so I could change my mind many times before I'm done! Right now I'm just enjoying the fun of making a new variation every week.