Heavenly Hexies

I’m not into hand piecing, so working with hexies is not something I’m into. However, I do like to see the work of other quilters, and I knew Pat Forster would put together something amazing, so I went along to APCH last night for the Hexie Heaven evening.

Well what a night!! It started with about 50 people turning up, all showing proof of vaccination, checking in with the QR Code and masking up, before moving into the hall. It was quite a warm evening, but with the overhead fans on high, doors open where possible and once the sun set open windows (thanks to Gwen and Cathy) the temperature in the hall was bearable.

Lesley started the evening off with her report to the members as required for a WAQA General Meeting. She gave a quick overview of the activities that had occurred over the past few months as well as providing a summary of the financial status of WAQA.

Pat Forster then gave a presentation on Hexies that was just amazing. I suspected there was more to a ‘Hexie’ than it being just an abbreviation of Hexagon, but I did not know there was so much that could be done with this shape. The amount of ways you can create a hexagon from other shapes brought back memories of geometry classes. I do like maths and symmetry so was quite interested and as it is way of creating hexagons does not require hand piecing, the possibilities are intriguing.

The variety of methods in which hexies can be used in quilts was truly amazing. Pat did a wonderful job in describing so many aspects of using hexagons in quilting and kept her audience’s attention throughout the presentation. Carol and Rhondda did well in keeping up with Pat as she worked her way through the slides and items on show.

The contributions by members of WAQA and in particular the WAQA Special Interest Group, Hexagon/Crazy Quilt Club, of quilts and other items for display was wonderful and deserve a special thanks. There is nothing better than getting the opportunity to look closely at an actual piece of work to appreciate the effort and talent that has gone into the making of the item. The quilts that were on show clearly demonstrated what Pat had described in regards to the manner in which hexies can be used.

The same can be said of a number of quilts that were entered in QuiltWest 2021, with Hexies appearing in a variety of ways. These examples demonstrate some of the particular aspects of using Hexies that Pat described.

There was also a demonstration of cutting Hexie templates and fabrics using a Cricut and a ScanNCut (thanks Leone`) which can reduce the time in making the pieces needed before you get onto the sewing. Now that I have a few Hexie templates and fabric pieces already cut out, I just might have to make a single Grandmother’s Flower Garden.

Thanks again to Pat Forster for all the work in putting together the presentation and display.and thank you to everyone who helped in setting up, during the evening and in packing up. What a night!!

Iris