Hive 4 - June Tutorial: Friendship Hexagon Block

Hello and welcome to June! I'm Diana from Red Delicious Life and I'm so excited to be your queen for the month. This is my first time participating in Stash Bee and only my second bee. A quick bit about me -- I'm a 40-something mom who started quilting about 3 years ago. My family lives in sunny Orlando, right next door to Mickey Mouse. Really, I'm not kidding. We are 2 miles away from Cinderella's castle at Magic Kingdom and can hear train whistles throughout the day and see fireworks every night. It's kind of surreal at times.

I've really been working hard these last few months to find a block and color scheme that I really like, and great inspiration photos to help my fellow bee-mates in their fabric selections. So here is what I've come up with. I hope you like it! The block that you will be making is the Friendship Hexagon Block, using this great tutorial by Elizabeth on her blog Don't Call Me Betsy.  The measurements that she uses will be the same, with your finished block measuring 12.5 inches square.

Now on to the fun stuff - colors and inspiration. I have been on a teal and aqua kick and love how they pop with white and gray.

This vase is the major inspiration for my color selections.

These colors are perfect (just ignore the tan on the left)

Example of teals, aquas, turquoises (ignore the tans/brown)

Ideally, you'll use at least 4 different fabrics. 2 teal/turquoise/aqua colors, a white (preferably a solid or white on white), and a gray. 

Here are some teal, aqua, turquoise, and gray fabrics from my stash that would work.

Here's what I'd like for the color placement. The 4 corners should be gray. The center star should be one of your  teal/aqua/turquoise colors. Then it's up to you to decide whether you place your other teal/aqua/turquoise color in the north-south-east-west quadrants, like this: 

Layout 1

If you select this layout (layout 1), when using Elizabeth's tutorial you'll be pairing your white fabric with the gray, and your 2 teal/aqua fabrics together to make your HSTs.

The other layout option (layout 2) is if you place the other teal/aqua/turquoise color in the diagonal quadrants opposite the gray, like this:

Layout 2

If you select this layout (layout 2), when using Elizabeth's tutorial you'll be pairing your white fabric with the star teal/aqua fabric, and your other teal/aqua fabric with the gray to make your HSTs.

HALF SQUARE TRIANGLE NOTE: Elizabeth's tutorial has you make your HSTs 4-at-a-time. If you prefer to make yours 2-at-a-time, that is fine with me. Simply cut your fabric squares to 5-inches, marking a diagonal line down the center and sewing a 1/4 inch away from it on both sides. You can see what I mean here. Once you make your HSTs, be sure to trim them down to 4.5" to match your others. 

The biggest thing I've noticed with this block is to press very well and use a SCANT 1/4-inch SEAM, otherwise your block may measure too small. It happened with my first 2 blocks.

I did some playing around in EQ7 to show you what it might look like with either of these blocks together in a quilt.

Here are the 2 blocks that I've made so far. I'm working on some more and can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with!

Last but not least, my question for you! When you are sewing what do you like to listen to, if anything? I'm always looking for something interesting, whether it be an audiobook, a TV series, a podcast, or new music. I'll take any and all recommendations!