Fussy and Fun!

I've been playing around with different fabrics that I can fussy-cut lately. I don’t know what started it, and I have never been one for big prints or cutesy fabrics, but this is becoming an excuse to go to the fabric store! Just to see what fabrics I can find that will fit my fussy-cutting shapes 🙂

This week, I found this cute fall print and thought maybe I could center those pumpkin trucks in the middle of a hexagon cut. I bought ⅓ yard, and that was more than enough to see if it would work.

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The Large Creative Grids Diamond Ruler has a 4½” hexagon mark in the right middle corner. I added some ⅛” ruler marking tape to make the hexagon line really show up as I tried to center those trucks.

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Here you see my first attempt. I centered one truck in the middle of the hexagon and cut along the right two edges of the ruler.

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I peeled back the extra fabric and rotated the ruler counterclockwise until the hexagon lines aligned with those freshly cut right two edges. Then, I cut along the edges of the ruler again; this time the cuts were along the top and down the left side.

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Finally, I rotated the ruler one more time counterclockwise and cut along the last two edges, the lower left and bottom. Here you see my collection of four different hexagon truck cuts.

To surround my trucks, I got this wild idea to do a strip-pieced spinning hexagon block. At least in my head it looked cool, but I had no idea if it would actually work! Haha! I made four strip sets with four 1½” strips in each. They measured 4½” across once done, and I just used scrap/stash fabrics that generally were the right shades to match the truck fabric. 

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I cut 6½” trapezoids from the strip sets using the same Creative Grids ruler. To do this, align the 6½” dashed triangle line along the bottom edge of the strip and the black star burr markings along the top edge. Cut on both sides of the ruler, then rotate the ruler 180 degrees to make the next cut. I got seven 6½” trapezoids out of each strip.

You will need six trapezoids (3 top cuts and 3 bottom cuts) to surround each fussy cut hexagon. Notice the top cuts and bottom cuts from each strip have opposite coloring. 

Lay out your hexagon center and place all six trapezoids surrounding it in a clockwise rotation. Alternate the top cuts and bottom cuts, so their coloring creates the spinning look. The block is actually pieced counterclockwise, but it looks like it spins clockwise.

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Lay piece number 1 down onto the hexagon center, and align the left flat-tipped edge to the edge of the hexagon. Pin these together about two-thirds of the way across and stitch from the left edge to the pin. This is called a partial seam (not a Y seam, so don’t panic!).

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Now take piece number 2 and sew it in place all the way across from edge to edge. Press each seam open before adding the next piece.

Next is piece number three; continue on around the block, sewing the striped trapezoids in place one after the other until you are back at the first seam.

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To finish the block, fold piece number 1 down again and finish the stitch from the previous stopping point all the way to the end of the piece.

I made four spinning hexagons like this. These blocks ended up measuring 12½” from flat side to flat side.

For my setting, I cut a 6½” strip of one of my neutral shades. From that, I cut six 6½” triangles. Using the triangle lines on the ruler, align the dashed 6 ½” line with the bottom edge of the strip and the flat tip with the top edge. Cut on both sides of the ruler, then rotate the ruler 180 degrees to make the next cut.

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Place the background triangles in the open spaces between the hexagon blocks, and sew them to opposite sides of the hexagons to make big diamond units. This way, you can sew the big diamond units into rows with long straight seams.

I just made one row like this to use as a table runner… but this idea has great potential for a fun full-size quilt! This table runner came out 12 1/2" x 54" in the end.

Here it is all finished up! Now I’m thinking it would be cute to make the center hexagons a pieced star block and do Christmas colors or something.

Happy Sunday, everyone,

Krista

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