Tut - Continuously Sewing A Hexie Flower

I recently figured out  how I can continuously sew my hexies when making a flower..  This saves me time as I don't have to stop and start with each hexagon I add.

Here's a few set out to use for this tutorial.

Layering my first two hexagons, right sides together, I first bury the thread knot under the seam allowance at the point where I am starting.. I'll be using red thread so you can see it better. Pardon the blurry photo - forgot to use the macro feature.  At the end of the first seam I make a loop and put the needle through it to form a knot in the two hexagons.  I do this twice. Now I bury the thread under the seam allowance where I finished.

Now I place it back in the donut shape facing up.  

I fold over the next loose hexagon on top of hexie #2  that I sewed together. (disregard the arrows on the paper - that was from another use.

I place an applique pin in the seam allowance of the side I am going to sew. Believe me, I can get easily confused as to which seam to sew.

Going under the right corner seam allowance of the wrong side, I position my needle in the corner. I pull the thread all the way from the old seam to the new one. It will form a triangle with two sides (as seen below). I do two knots here and sew the seam. At the end I do two knots.

 Again,  I bury the thread at the end of this seam, lay open next to my remaining hexagon, placing  it on top of the last one. I clasp the pair in my left hand (as in 5th photo) and go under the seam allowance to come up at the right corner to start the next seam and then do two knots and sew the seam. I always finish with two knots.

 Once I'm all done the back of the hexagon flower will look like this - with thread crossing from one side to the other.

Now I clip those threads right at the seam allowance - that way the tails are hidden.

The back shows no threads. And it was much faster to assemble.  Hope this was clear enough.  It's really just remembering to knot at the start and end of seams to use one thread  to join your hexagons.
Thank you to Karen at Faeries and Fibres for sparking my thinking on this.  You can see how she puts the center in.  Click here to go to her site. 

Slow Sunday Stitching

Another flower made.  I am really liking Karen's method of putting the center hexagons into an open donut or "noodle" as she calls them in assembling this flower.  Went together much faster.  And I figured out how to use a continuous thread on all six of the outer hexagons without stopping and starting for each one. I'll put together a short tutorial on that shortly.

Off to start another one so I can use it in the tutorial.  I'm linking to Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday. Slow down, pick up a needle and relax with her.

WIPs Be Gone Week 16

Another WIP is gone!  This one I numbered as #8.  Been hanging around for a while and glad it is out the door:

Edging all done and ready to gift. A bit bigger than the usual St. Anne's 36" square, but some Mom will surely like it for her little one.  And I'm quilting #9 now:

Here's when I was SITD the middle row - after that it just got easier.  Here's all the squares stitched:

For novices to FMQ, I do recommend a busy background - you won't see mistakes if you have any and will be more encouraged to keep practicing. And I've started some quilting in the squares:

Here's a donut I started for WIP #3.  I was working on it at my friends house when we had a mini bee. You can see I got distracted. Off to find the seam ripper. 

Lastly, I found some flowers hidden under my climbing Cecil Brunner rose. I rescued them and brought them indoors:

It feels good to have something to show you. How are you doing on your wips?Would love to see - doesn't have to be a finish, but we'll admire those, too.  Linky below - remember it doesn't have to be a new post, just one that shows a WIP.  Ends Monday, midnight.  I'm linking to Sarah's Can I get a Whoop, Whoop?, Amanda's Finish it Up Fridays, FMQ Mavericks,  and Richard's Link a Finish Friday. Lots of eye candy there.  

An InLinkz Link-up