I love to feature beautiful motifs in the center of blocks. This fabric collection is at least 15 years old and is from Blank Quilting. It's called "Days to Remember." I had yards and yards of it for some workshops I taught over those years. Here is one block where I captured an awesome motif: Twisted Hexagon block This Twisted Hexagon block can be made in all sorts of sizes (my Etsy pattern  captures a 5-1/2" high motif; this is cut 7-1/2"). All I had to do was adjust the size of the half hexagons. Half hexagons cut with a standard 60 degree triangle ruler Here is one of the quilts I made with the leftovers. My local guild needed some longer quilts and so I added the top and bottom borders as you can see here. Days to Remember Twisted Hexagon charity quilt: 55" x 67" But I didn't chop up all the sweet motifs. I used some for the border of this quilt with leftovers from a class I taught in 2012! Winding Ways the easy way. Winding Ways quilt I...

Twisted Hexagons is my favorite "go to" pattern for little kids. You can capture a fabulous motif in the center hexagon and then finish it off with 6 half-hexagons. No y-seams (you know the story). I used just about the very last of the collection with only ONE fat quarter remaining. Aren't these fun fabrics from 2012? Sockey the Monkey and his fabrics Here's a single block from a previous quilt. Don't those monkeys look happy? I finished my last set of blocks last weekend (actually, on Memorial Day). I put the 3 horizontal rows together and then scoured my stash for borders. Don't you just love the black and white dots?! The blocks are 10" high, with a 5" high center hexagon. 9 Block Twisted Hexagon quilt: 40" x 46" OK. You're probably wondering what the "making do" in my blog title has to do with this. Well, let me show you. I needed two more half-hexagons in the red with yellow bananas. And so I pieced the fabrics. Here - ...

Most of my quilting inspiration comes from vintage and traditional blocks. Wagon Wheel is one of them. I have English Paper Pieced this as well as rotary cut and stitched it. Here's one made via EPP using the Grand Illusion fabrics by Windham.   Wagon Wheel block Notice there is a full hexagon in the center surrounded by 6 half hexagons. Here are two hexagons ready to be surrounded by those half-hexagons. Two whole hexagons Same center hexagon with the half-hexagons turned 180 degrees. You've seen my Twisted Hexagon blocks before, and I think it's fun to see these two distinct blocks made with the same fabrics! Twisted Hexagon using the very same patches! Back to Wagon Wheel. I've shared tutorials on making these via rotary cutting and piecing. Unfortunately, you would have to stitch a y-seam (in fact, 6 of them!) to do it the traditional way. I sewed the half-hexagons into a circle and then interfaced the center hexagon and appliquéd it to the center. Easy! Rotary cut ...

I am not a purist - I freely mix and match fabrics across fabric companies. I especially love when the fabrics come from one company because the colors match perfectly. Festive Chickadees from Benartex is just such a company. I mixed it with Festive Season. Twisted Hexagon Chickadees . 42" x 47". Blocks are 10" high I loved being able to capture those sweet chickadees inside a hexagon. I cut freezer paper hexagons the size I needed then cut a "window" so I could find the perfect motif. The freezer paper is ironed to the fabric and "sticks" so I can cut out the whole hexagon. It can be peeled and reused. I used my 60 degree triangle ruler to cut both the hexagons and the half-hexagons. It's not magic, but pretty close! Cutting half hexagons I pulled in a variety of other fabrics and actually cut too many - but then I had enough for a second quilt. These half-hexagons are from the Festive Season collection. How do the half-hexagons look with that sw...

I got busy last Christmas and made some Twisted Hexagon coasters (or large mug rugs) using up some lovely holiday scraps. The center hexagons are 5" high, with a finished height for the coaster of 10". Twisted Hexagon coasters I was able to get two hexagons out of the Santa prints and then used two different prints for the half-hexagons. The binding is NOT cut on the bias - it's printed that way, so let's keep this secret to ourselves! Santa Twisted Hexagon Coaster: 10" x 12" The half-hexagons are also easy to cut using a standard 60 degree multi-sized triangle ruler. I know you have one in your sewing room drawer!  Cutting the half hexagons Here are some half-hexagons I cut for a larger quilt. I had just a few left over and they inspired my coasters above. Half-hexagons My Festive Chickadees Twisted Hexagons quilt is ready to come out of the closet for decorating! These use the same size half-hexagons, but in a different fabric collection. Festive Chickad...

A few weeks ago I got a distress email from a former student (Hillary) who was struggling with my pattern for Twisted Hexagons . She wasn't able to get her pieces to fit. Here's what my friend Julia of Fairfax, VA made several years ago using the same pattern. Twisted Hexagon runner by Julia (2014) I taught a workshop for our guild and Julia decided to make hers all by hand. Isn't this gorgeous?! Look at her hand quilting up close! Julia's hand quilting Now back to the distress email. It seems that something fishy was going on with the rooster fabric. Hillary sent this photo and asked me to help her figure it out. Make sure your patches are cut the right size! Once we determined she had printed out her templates at the wrong size, everything fit together so well she made this gorgeous quilt! Those are happy roosters now! Hillary's Twisted Hexagon quilt Here's the one she did from the workshop. Isn't it clever that she added those small hexagons on the black ...

Most days I let my rotary cutter make the decision on what gets to peek out of the patches I cut. Most days it really doesn't matter. BUT - when you don't want to cut the head off of a little chickadee . . . English Paper Pieced block using 1-3/4" hexagon papers . . . you find out what size you need to make a template to isolate the motif. I had this lovely Festive Chickadee fabric and found that a 1-3/4" hexagon would work with the patch as shown. I cut a freezer paper hexagon to the size I would need (includes 3/8" seams). Then I cut a window out of the center. It's easy to iron it into place for cutting. Single motif Here is what I mean by cutting out a "window" from the template. I love using freezer paper because I can reuse it several times. I made several quilts with this special collection. Each time I made a window template for "fussy cutting." I've shared them before. Here is one more quilt where I made sure that chickadee wa...

I love taking my workshop and blog samples and getting them quilted (for free) by my quilt guild friend. I bind them and off they go to local charity groups. We donate hundreds of quilts each year and my 2 dozen or so is a drop in the bucket! Here is the lineup for May/June. The first is a very pink, girlie quilt. The center block was part of my Beginner's Mariner's Compass workshop (which I've retired). I pulled pink and more of that heart fabric and finished it off (after Jeannie C. quilted it) Valentine's Mariner's Compass: 38" x 38" The next is a quilt top I stitched about 10 years ago from the Coverlets Collection by Windham Fabrics. I decided I had waited long enough. It is a bit more sophisticated and will probably become a lap quilt for a wheelchair bound person. This is my version of Stack 'n Whack, letting the rotary cutter and ruler decide where they should land. I used a 60 degree triangle ruler for this. Coverlets wheelchair lap quilt: 41...