Hexagon Charm Quilt

I mentioned this a few posts ago in passing.  It's something I am EXTREMELY interested in, and I wanted to share a little more about what a hexagon charm quilt is, and what goes into making it, along with a personal challenge.

The hexagon quilt (aka, grandmothers flower garden, honeycomb, mosaic, or 6-sided patch work) is one of the oldest type of pieced quilts.  There have been quilts found that were made around 1770.  It originated in England, and was brought over to America.  It became a very popular quilt during the 1920's and during the depression because only small scraps of fabric were needed to make the quilt.  It is VERY time and labor intensive.  It is also...BEAUTIFUL!  Take a look!

I find these quilts immensely beautiful.  In most cases the hexagons are 1 inch big.  They are also almost always made by hand.  Here is a picture of a charm hexagon quilt.  Charm quilts are made with no duplicate, or very few duplicate fabrics.

Every time I see one I fall in love!! They are so pretty and intricate.

So, what are the steps?  Here's a great picture of the process to making this type of quilt...

1.  Find a hexagon pattern and print it or draw in yourself.  I would definitely suggest printing versus drawing it yourself.
2.  Cut our your hexagons.
3.  Pin your hexagon to your piece of fabric.
4.  Trim your fabric around your hexagon.
5.  Baste the fabric to the piece of paper.
6.  Sandwich two pieces together, right sides facing, and sew the two together.
7.  Repeat!

I've spent about a week practicing and I've done roughly 28 or so hexagons.  I haven't spent a lot of time, which is why I haven't made more than I have.  I really, really want to put some time into this, and actually create a quilt top.  To make a king size quilt, I would need to make 3979 hexagons!  This is where my personal challenge comes in.

Has anyone out there seen Julie & Julia?  In the movie Julie challenges herself to cook through Julia Child's cook book in a year.  She gives herself a deadline because as she puts it, she never finishes what she starts.  I definitely resemble that remark!  I am not good with following through on things.  I am such a procrastinator.  It's a horrible habit.  So, this is what I'm challenging myself to.  Sunday I'm going to be at my mothers for Mother's day.  She is a quilter and has tons of scraps.  I'm going to steal kindly ask for scraps to make my quilt.  Starting Monday, the 9th, I'm going to start working on making myself a hexagon quilt!  I will need to sew together 128 hexagons a day, for 31 days, to get this completed.  This may be an impossible task, but it's something I really want to do.  I think this will also be a good way to spend less time on the computer.  Instead I can sit down with my husband, or even with family or friends, and have something to keep my hands busy.  You know what they say!  Idle hands are the devils playground!