Something interesting happens when octagons are joined together with other octagons.  A second shape is formed:  a square.

When octagons are arranged this way in a quilt, the design is called Cobblestones.  I have had a bit of experience with making Cobblestones.  The first was a sample for my English Paper Piecing by Machine workshop, made using thirties reproduction fabrics.

The title of the workshop indicates that octagons are sewn together using English paper piecing – just like hexagons.  The second time I used the Cobblestones design was during a round robin.  This is how Gail’s quilt looked when it came to me. 

I knew she wanted to display her quilt over the back of a sofa, so I decided to add borders to two sides only and turn the square into a rectangle.  My borders were Cobblestones.

A popular patchwork block that features the octagonal shape is the Snowball block.  In this case, four triangles are added to complete the square.

These triangles can easily be disguised by using the same fabric in the sashing or borders.

This quilt features the Snowball block alternating with Four-Patch blocks.  With careful fabric placement, the shape of bow ties is formed between the octagons.  The art work in each octagon was provided by a group of second grade students as part of their unit on Traditions and Celebrations.

In this Snowball Variation block, constructed on a nine-patch grid, the center square is filled with the same fabric as the corner triangles.

The block Greek Cross subdivides four of the nine-patches into rectangles…

… and the Grecian Square block rearranges the coloring to create a different effect.

This final block featuring the octagonal shape is called Cross Roads.

Of course, what intrigues me with this block is the secondary design formed when the blocks come together.

Each of these blocks can be constructed with traditional piecing methods.  So the good news is that you can have octagons in your quilts without English paper piecing!

The next logical geometric shape to consider would therefore be the hexagon.  Why?  Well, what do you get when you put six equilateral triangles together?

Hexagons have a long and impressive history in quiltmaking and are more popular than you might think.  After all, sewing six sided shapes together would appear to have its difficulties.  But quilters throughout the generations have overcome these challenges to create stunning, creative and intricate quilt designs.

When groups of hexagons are colored in concentric circles, the resulting design is known as Grandmother’s Flower Garden.  I was introduced to the design during my beginner quilting class and this block made it into my first sampler quilt.  Notice how the two elongated sides on the dark green hexagons make them look like leaves.

Years later, I made a full-size Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt.  My version features burgundy patches in the centers surrounded by light, medium, and dark shades of green.  Finishing the outside edges is one of the dilemmas presented by the hexagonal shape.  I chose to keep the uneven shape and finished the outside edges with a facing.  (I’ll tell you how to do this is in a future article.)

In 2004, I wanted to enter the Husqvarna Viking quilt competition.  The theme that year was color and, once again, I was drawn to the hexagon shape.  Its six sides corresponded perfectly with the three primary colors and the three secondary colors. 

I thought I could use this to create a unique color wheel quilt.  Starting with a white hexagon in the center, I could add a row of each primary color – in this case, cyan, magenta, and yellow.

Then I could add rows of the secondary colors formed by mixing cyan with yellow, yellow with magenta, and magenta with cyan.

Finally, I could fill the remaining spaces with hexagons of every possibly color combination in between.

And here is the quilt, called Trinity.  You can read more about how I made this quilt in the blog post from February 24, 2010.

How do you sew six-sided shapes together?  Most commonly, it is done with a technique called English paper piecing.  Each hexagon patch is basted to a paper foundation and then either whip stitched together by hand or zigzag stitched together by machine.  This also would make a good subject for a future article!

But next week, we’ll continue our look at hexagons.  We’ll discover some unique hexagonal blocks and we’ll see what happens when hexagons are divided into three parallelograms.

Husqvarna Viking had issued a call for entry and the competition theme was “Color, Couleur, Colore, Kulör!”.  I had the idea to create a color wheel using hexagon-shaped patches, but wondered how I would ever manage to collect enough fabric to make each hexagon a slightly different hue.

I knew how to mix color on the computer.  The three primary colors in digital printing are cyan, magenta, and yellow (CMY).  Shown at full strength, these colors are produced by entering a value of 100, i.e. C100 is 100% cyan.

Primary Colors

I could use increments of each shade, from light to full strength, and add black to shade to dark.  An entry of 10 produces a light value of cyan (C10), 50 creates a medium value (C50), and adding 50% black (K50) shades full-strength cyan.

Shading Colors

I could mix colors together to produce secondary colors.  Cyan plus magenta creates a dark blue-violet color.  Magenta with yellow is a reddish-orange.  Cyan plus yellow produces a hue of green.

Secondary Colors

Creating colors on the computer is interesting, but how could it help me with this quilt? 

I knew I could print onto fabric.  I had tried a number of products over the years, but I particularly liked Bubble Jet Set by C. Jenkins Company.  Even better, they had just announced Miracle Fabric Sheets, 8½” x 11″ sheets of fabric already pre-treated for printing and backed with freezer paper.

This seemed like the ideal solution.  I could print the unique color formula for each hexagon patch onto the fabric sheets.  Then I could cut out the patches and prepare them for English paper piecing, which I did on my sewing machine.

Printing onto Fabric

Cutting & Basting

Sewing Hexagon Pairs by Machine

Sewing Rows of Hexagons by Machine

By using this process, I was able to create a quilt with a white hexagon in the center that radiated out to black at the edges.  The six edges of the white hexagon form six lines, three with the primary colors of cyan, magenta and yellow, and three with the secondary colors formed by mixing the primary colors together.  In between is every possible combination of blending those hues.

I called the resulting quilt “Trinity”, in recognition of the original three colors at the foundation of the design.