susan's hexed hexagons

well now that i'm sure this quilt has arrived at it's final destination, i can post pics and not ruin any surprises.

a few months ago i decided to make a quilt for my friend susan, of the much aforementioned "whatsoever things are beautiful" blog. i really wanted to try something different from the many variations of log cabin blocks i'd done so far, and i racked my brains trying to think of what to do. i considered circles, but they kind of scare me. i didn't want to do a strip quilt because it makes my head hurt. then i alighted upon this pattern from amy butler and i was in love!

after a lot of online fabric searching, and drooling, and indecision, i finally came up with a color scheme i liked in heather bailey's new "nicey jane" fabrics. oh wait, did i mention i bought the fabric BEFORE i picked the pattern? yeah, never a smart idea. i didn't have nearly enough, which is why there are random mermaids and pink amy butler fabric thrown in. and even with the additions i BARELY had enough fabric for all those ginormous hexagons. it took me almost three days to cut out all the pieces because i had to be so...creative and uptight in order to get all the pieces i needed. hence the hexed hexagons. 

i really do love the way it turned out, though.

the colors made me happy. almost the whole time i was working on this it was overcast and depressing outside, so the cheery yellows and soothing blues really perked me up.

and the back...let me just say that strip of hexagons on the back took me ages. and they pull in six directions so there was a lot of puckering where i didn't really want it.still, all in all i was pleased with it, and apparently susan was too, judging by the response on her blog. which is, for me, both embarrassing and gratifying at the same time. it's always nice to know that the things you make are liked.