Hexagon Wreath of Blocks

Another post about The New Hexagon Perpetual Calendar by Katja Marek (published by Martingale).  This is part of the Perpetually Hexie Quilt Along. The January project is taken from the January 13 block. First, here is the block:

January 13 block from the calendar using Kaffe Fassett fabrics

And the block in Sgrafito fabrics from Benartex:

January 13 block using Sgrafito fabrics from Benartex

Wow. That's a lot of funky angles. How did I sew it? For my years working on the editorial staff of Quilt Magazine, we were advised to always "look for the long seams." Allow me to show you.

First, the parts as shown in the Benartex block:

Two triangles, two diamonds and four half-hexagons

Step 1: Sew the center two triangles together

Sew two triangles together

 Step 2: Sew one half-hexagon to the bottom triangle

Adding one half-hexagon to the bottom triangle

 Step 3: Sew one half-hexagon to the other side of the bottom triangle

Second half-hexagon sewn to bottom triangle

 Step 4: Sew a diamond to a half-hexagon twice and then join to the top triangle.

Adding the last half-hexagons and diamonds

See?! No y-seams. All straight seam sewing.

Then, in a show of how much of a renegade I am (because these are NOT EPP - English Paper Pieced), I chose to add setting triangles to each of the six blocks instead of appliqueing each block to a huge background triangle. Saves a lot of fabric, btw.

Simple triangles added to 3 sides of the hexagon block

And my version of the January project:

January wreath of six January 13 blocks. Mine is a bit larger at 18" tall.

Hope you enjoyed the show! I loved working with these fabrics and the ease of stitching using my rotary cutter. The size of my blocks is only slightly larger (by about 1/4").