Mini Tutorial - Floating Hexies

 I decided that I wanted to make something simple - and this is based on the excellent pattern in Pam and Nicky Lintott's 'New Ways with Jelly Rolls' for a quilt back.

Too good to hide away on a back, in my opinion!

 So I've made mine with just two fabrics.  One for the hexies, one for the background.
You need to cut 4.5" strips x WoF.  I cut four strips for the dark purple, and seven for the background.  You need to add extra half hexies at the ends which is why you need more background shapes.

 Then use your 60 degree ruler, and use the lines between the 8" and 3.5" lines to cut the half hexie shapes, flipping the ruler round after each cut to be as economical with the fabric as possible.

Next sew them together to make strips - you can see below how to create the hexagons from two strips.

I planned a 3 - 4 - 3 layout.  Once you lay them out you can see where to add the extra background half hexies.

 I liked laying mine out to make sure that I'd got the right number (facing the right way!) in each strip.  You can see here that I was part way through the process and needed to add more sections at some of the strip ends.

When you are happy with your strips, line them up and sew together.  Work out where the hexagons are going to be to work out how each pair of strips will line up.

The ends will look something like this.

You need to cut them off to make a straight edge (generating more scraps to play with, of course!).

That's it.  You have made enough for a runner, perhaps.  Mine finished at 54" x 24".  If you made two it would make a good lap quilt or cot quilt size.

What I actually went on to do was to add deep borders around my central part, before backing / basting / quilting / binding.

The quilt finished at 70" x 46" which is a reasonably useful size for cozying up under.

The backing was a bit random.  Life saver rings and another fabric with a flash of red on it.  Not a bad combination, but perhaps not the best players with the front of the quilt!  Sorry, whoever ends up with this one - but it was sewn with love if that counts for anything.