In case you've ever wondered what 900 paper pieced hexagons looks like, here you go!

Some of the fabric I had in my stash (I won a bundle of gray stash builders from Pink Castle Fabrics a little while ago that came in very handy), and some of it was collected at various fabric stores around the city. When I first started out, I considered just picking one fabric of each color and using those to make the quilt. I'm so glad I decided to go with a bunch of different ones, though. It makes it so interesting and vibrant looking.

After much discussion, we decided on a cluster pattern of each color, and since these guys are meant for to a duvet cover, I decided to quilt them without batting (it does have a backing, for some stabilization, but another layer would have made it too warm). Since I didn't have to worry about the batting, I decided to sew them together (and to the backing fabric, which is a repurposed sheet) and quilt them at the same time.

I'm using one of the fancy decorative stitches on my machine, fitting each hexagon together, and then sewing along the seams. For the moment, I'm sewing them together on four sides with the paper still inside to keep the shape, then tearing the templates out like you do in paper piecing. Yes, this is wasting a lot of paper, but I swear I'm recycling it all! I like the saving time aspect of doing it this way, and I wasn't really sure how I was going to quilt it, so it takes care of that too. Plus, the loops are pretty.

I think it will make the cover more durable in the end, too. It's still taking a pretty significant amount of time, but I've gotten a pretty good start, and I'm loving the colors:

I can't decide on my favorite. I think the blue clusters are at the top of the list right now...but every time I look at it to try to decide, I change my mind!

(the first post about the hexies can be found here)