Bed Rest, Day 9 - the Hexagon Project

Okay, I know. It's WAY early, and a lot could happen today (such as going into labor) but I wanted to get this crafty post out of the way before I have a baby and fill my posts with cute baby pictures :)

Here are all the hexagons I have done so far, stacked up according to fabric pattern. There are 445 of them here. I finished another 77 of them since my last update. That went fast!

Here are all my blues - 30 different fabrics. As you can see, there are a bunch of some of the fabrics, and not a lot of others. I want to start with even numbers of all fabrics so I can fairly evenly scatter them throughout the quilt. The problem is going to be that I have some fabric that I just had scraps of, and others that I bought yardage for - quarter, eighth, half yards, and so on, so I don't have the same amount of each fabric. And I don't remember which ones are which. So the plan is to make it as even as possible, then buy something similar if I need to fill in gaps later.

Here are the reds. The tall stacks on the left are all the squares I had for those fabrics - just scraps from my stash. I have 24 different reds so far. I think though, with as strong as the reds are that they will balance well with the extra blues. And some of the blues read more as whites or light greens anyway, so I think it will work.

So anyway, after stacking them all according to fabric, I counted each pile, then wrote the number of hexagons I have in that color on the back. I needed to see where I was. I decided to start with ten of every fabric - just to give me a good jumping off point. I may find that I want more of a particular fabric or value (darker blues, especially), but this will give me a place to start. I do have two more blue fabrics I need to have my daughter cut (at least ten squares of each) so I can add that to the mix.

After I did all that counting, I got out my extra hexagon papers and counted out as many as I would need to get 10 of each fabric done. Some stacks had more than 10 in them already, so I won't have to do any more of those. I pulled the extras out of those piles and put them away for the next set.

Then I stacked the correct number of papers onto the correct number of fabric squares...

... and paper-clipped them in place. These are the last of what needs to be stitched (not counting the 20 squares I need to have my daughter cut this afternoon) before I can start the layout and get to putting them all together.

I had one fabric I decided I hated and didn't want to use, so I took the paper out of it. I think that's going to be the most challenging part of this process - removing the papers. Might have to get my daughter to help with that step - ha. I'm considering hole punching the papers. I think two holes would allow me to stick a toothpick or something similar in, then pull and pop out the papers without too much trouble. I'm going to give it a try with a couple of the papers and see how it goes.

So now, my final preparations are done. I can go have a baby now... er, after midnight, I mean. HA. I have this project all packed up ready to go to the hospital with me. I don't really think I'll get a chance to work on it there, unless I end up staying longer due to the baby's health (as I mentioned in the last post, possibly jaundice or Group B Strep complications). But it's better to be prepared than to sit and have nothing to occupy my time. Besides, I think this will be an easy project to work on while nursing too. I like to keep my hands busy all the time! Redeeming the time...