Among my Christmas presents this year was a treasure chest from one of my lovely friends. Inside were lots of yummy foody things. All locally produced. There were speciality mustards and marmalade, a raspberry couli and a strawberry and kirsch jam produced just at the top of our road and we’d never tried it! There were holly leaf Sarah Bunton Chocolates made just by the narrow gauge train station at Devil’s Bridge. We often take visitors up there so I’ll definitely be calling at the shop in future. There was a lovely little pot, and (how well my friend knows me) a fat quarter of Annali teal floral.
Now as it happens I have had some of this lovely Dashwood Studio range by Stephanie Thannhauser in my stash for some time. This new FQ was just the inspiration I needed to get busy with it.
I also wanted to try a Lynne Goldsworthy design I’d spotted in ‘Love Patchwork and Quilting’ magazine (issue 16) and this fabric seemed just the thing. I needed a bit more than I had for my plan to make a bed runner and cushion covers and turning to my stash again I found some pieces of Eloise Renouf ‘Bark and Branch’ left from a previous project and I chose one for the sashing and one to add to the piecing for the runner. I’d think about the cushions later.
Bark and Branch
So ‘Honeycomb Hexies’ it was to be then (find the template here). Let the cutting begin.
The design for Honeycomb Hexies looks quite complex but Lynne’s instructions combined with the diagrams and illustrations were great and there wasn’t too much work for the seam ripper. I did get carried away on my first row and was merrily adding hexies as if I was making a full size quilt, but I think that shows that the design was simpler than it looks.
The half-hexagon, sashing and triangles were pieced in rows, then mirrored by a second row. Once the rows were pieced they were sewn together in pairs and then the whole top put together. It was a really pleasing process and I loved seeing the pattern emerging.
Here is the runner pinned ready for quilting.
When it came to the cushion covers I decided on one central hexagon with a border in a grey multi and the sashing fabric. 
Because this was more of a feature block I tried matching the join in the two halves. It’s not a bad job but it was fiddly so two matches was enough thanks!
I found the multi-grey in the sale in Aberdashery, I used another for the cushion backs.
The quilting needed to be simple, I’m still practicing but I think it’s getting a bit more even overall. Here’s the reverse, simply because it shows up better.
There are so many great designers and quilters out there. 
Dashwood Studio have some great fabric designers on their books, I’ve recently bought FQs of another great range, ‘Suffolk Garden’ by Brie Harrison. So exciting. They’ll definitely bring the garden into the house.
I find myself following some terrific blogs from designers who generously share their work. Lynne Goldsworthy is one of these. Find her at Lily’s Quilts where she has posted lots of tutorials, among them another great hexie quilt, ‘Hexagon Park’. I’ll certainly be following her fabulous blog as well as looking forward to her contributions in LPQ. So much to look forward to!
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