Here are Glorious Hexagons 201 through 210.

#9 Doris

I like the little smudge of light blue that adds a bit of an organic feel to an otherwise hard edged geometric block.

#9 Doris

This is the kind of low contrast block that will fade into the background and allow other blocks to shine in the finished quilt.

#9 Doris

I like the blue star in the center

#9 Doris

#9 Doris

This one almost looks as if it doesn’t have seams.

#9 Doris

#23 Dawn

The center of this block is Kona Indigo. It does not quite match the black that makes up the body of the horses in the outer shape. I am hoping that it won’t pop out too much in the final arrangement of the quilt.

#23 Dawn

#29 Bev

I love the way the horses circle behind the star.

#11 Susan

I love this block. This Susan is destined to be the center of the star in one of my large hexagons.

Here are hexagons 191 through 200.

#48 Jeannie

I wasn’t sure if I was going to like the contrast between the lighter sections of rust in the center of the star and the darker sections of rust fabric that make up the points of the star. I think I might have been happier if they matched more closely, but the contest is growing on me.

#48 Jeannie

I like the way the horse heads grow from the points of the star.

#48 Jeannie

#48 Jeannie

This is one of my favorite Jeannie blocks. I really like the way the diamond patterned mane sections create a circle just outside the star. I also like the way the rust colored area of the outer shapes reaches out to form another softly shaped star.

 

#13 Judy

This block has great circular motion.

#13 Judy

I like the way the horse heads peak out in this block that is primarily geometric.

#13 Judy

#13 Judy

This Judy needs a little bit of repair before she gets incorporated into a large hexagon unit. If you look carefully you will see that the lower left outer diamond was put in backwards. I’m too lazy to make that change right now, but I will be doing it soon.

#13 Judy

Note to self: hexagons that are divided evenly in half make cool Judy blocks.

#9 Doris

Note to self: Cut kites so that a linear element is perpendicular with one of the outer edges of the kite for interesting results. The circle created by the little triangles was a surprise.

With 30 more hexagons to share, here are the next ten hexagons, numbers 181 through 190.

#54 Kim

#54 Kim

#48 Jeannie

#48 Jeannie

#54 Kim

The last five blocks in this post represent the first five blocks that I completed while I was on vacation in Boston at the U.S. Go Congress a couple weeks ago. I completed 30 blocks while I was away. I had prepared bags of basted paper pieces ready to sew together into hexagons.

#48 Jeannie

#48 Jeannie

#48 Jeannie

#48 Jeannie

 

#48 Jeannie

I have forty more hexagons left to show.

Here are the next ten, hexagons 171 through 180

#1 Marie

This Marie made from the panel fabric. The way the shapes matched up in the center was a happy accident.

#54 Kim

The eyes have it on this block and the next two blocks as well.

#54 Kim

#54 Kim

#54 Kim

Battling horse snouts make for an interesting visual effect.

#40 Niki

I love the surprise appearance of the interesting white star in the center of this block.

#40 Niki

A slim cut of fabric that is not particularly interesting in and of itself manages to blend nicely with the yellow triangles. The long shape divides itself into two design elements and a buzzsaw emerges in the center of the block.

#40 Niki

Horse cheeks make this block interesting. .

#9 Doris

I love it when the panel fabric does the heavy lifting on a Doris block.

#9 Doris

Once again the panel fabric is doing the heavy listing in the above Doris.

First let me start by saying that I once again find myself woefully behind in posing my progress on this project. I have five large hexagons units that have not been posted yet. I also have over 50 regular size hexagons to post, thirty of which were completed while I was away at the U.S. Go Congress two weeks ago.

To avoid visual overload for my viewers I will present these items in a few posts over the course of the next couple of weeks.

Following are hexagons 161 through 170.

#54 Kim

You’ve seen this Kim before. I was showing the 16th decade of blocks and included this Kim and the following Kim. I did this because they were the last two blocks made from the panel fabric that I had made into a three layer stack that I deliberately cut exclusively into Kim and Doloris blocks.

#54 Kim

I love the birds in the panel fabric.

#53 Liza

The outer horses come from the running horses fabric. The inner diamonds are cut from the panel fabric. This is not strictly a Liza because the central hexagon has been composed of diamonds.

#54 Kim

Sometimes the eye just needs to rest.

#54 Kim

There are actually two other blocks exactly like this cut from a six layer stack. So I have three of these to scatter across the surface of the finished quilt if I so desire. I might even put them into a single large hexagon and see how that plays.

#54 Kim

I love the blue horses in this Kim.

#48 Jeannie

I had mentioned wanting to try using Kona solid fabrics for the insides of Jeannie blocks. I did that here for the first time and you will see more of these blocks. They will make their appearance when I post the blocks that I made during the time that I was at the Go Congress recently. I think that this block might have been more effective if I had not matched the central solid so well with the horses in the outside shapes. The yellow becomes dominant in this block when you see it from a distance and the star becomes lost. I should have matched the darker rust color in the print instead.

#8 Marina

I like the subtle look of this block with the contrast between the large dense swirls in the outside shape and the small circles on the inside hexagon. These shapes were all cut from the same fabric. This block might be best used as the inside of a star on a large hexagon unit.

#8 Marena

Here is the same block made with the exact same fabric except in a different color. This time I swapped the inside and outside patterns. The center of the blue block pops out and the center of the yellow block moves back in space.

#1 Marie

This block was made with some left over sections of the panel fabric.

Last week I attended the U.S. Go Congress in Boston. I traveled via train to and from Boston. I knew that this was going to be an ideal opportunity to travel with my EPP handwork. I am currently working on a quilt based on the Glorious Hexagons group on Facebook, and I took that work with me to the Go Congress.

I planned ahead of time to have sandwich bags filled with pieces pre cut and pre basted to paper pieces. I prepared over thirty such bags, and my blocks were ready to sew. For travel I packed my sewing supplies into a small carry on bag that would fit easily at my feet on the train.

I packed my sewing supplies in one #2 Tupperware Modular Mate box, and I packed my sandwich bags with precut pieces in another #2 Tupperware Modular Mate box.

These boxes fit nicely into my carry on bag leaving enough room for a couple of books, my iPad, a charging cable, and some snacks.

I completed a few blocks on my way up to Boston on Amtrak.

The real stitching started in ernest once I got to the Go Congress. I played a game in the U.S. Open each morning, but my games were fairly quick, about an hour each. After finishing my morning game I would move from the playing area into the adjoining lounge area where I would sit and stitch, often talking with friends, and sometimes watching a game review.

A few days into the Go Congress I had finished piecing ten or more hexagons. The one on the top of the pile above happens to be my favorite one that I pieced during the congress. I am planning to make a few more of this block taking advantage of the linear elements in the Embracing Horses Panel Fabric.

It wasn’t all go playing and stitching last week. There was plenty of eating as well. I deviated from my usual Vegan eating philosophy to take in a bit of dairy as well as some sea food.

The Boston University cafeteria had soft serve in the evening. I usually had a cone after the evening meal, and sometimes a second after sitting and consuming the first cone while talking with go friends.

My go friend Larry and I enjoyed a lobster roll for lunch. We tried to get into Neptune Oyster for dinner, but there was an hour and a half wait for a table for two. So we sauntered down the street and got pulled into another seafood restaurant, the name of which escapes me. There I had four blue point oysters. I would have had more, but they were quite pricey.

I also had a pound and a half lobster over linguine. The tail meat was easy to get to since the lobster had been cut in half. I had to struggle with the claws though, but it was worth it. They had what they called a “lazy man’s lobster: which had been shelled and served with linguini. Perhaps I should have gone that route. I was very glad I did not have to meet the lobster before it arrived at my plate. Even though I was never an ethical Vegan, I could not help but learn a few things that give me pause when I consume animal products.

When I took the photograph of my food the waiter offered to take a photograph of my dining companion and myself. Larry and I had a great time on the Wednesday day off in the middle of the week taking in four museums, lunch, and dinner off campus.

Back to the stitching…

I completed thirty of the basted blocks that I took with me. On the way home I traveled with two go friends on Amtrak. One was headed for Philadelphia and the other down to Virginia, perhaps getting off at DC. We started off in the regular coach area, but decided to try our luck getting a club car table. We managed to snag one. That made the remainder of the trip so much more enjoyable. Allan, a strong Dan level player, reviewed the one game I had recorded at the congress. He also reviewed a game for Neil. The three of us were able to talk easily at the table and had a great time chatting the hours away.

After the game reviews were over I pulled out my stitching and worked while we talked. The conversation centered on my hexagon work for awhile. I had come prepared with some photographs marked as favorites on my iPad. I knew this would make it easier to explain to people what I was doing, and where the work was heading.

Here are the thirty blocks that I completed during my trip.

I still have 25 blocks that I had previously finished that that have yet to be shown. I will show them over the next week in groups of ten. So the blocks above will have to wait for their individual presentation until after I have presented the hexagons from the seventeenth and eighteenth decades plus five more blocks. The blocks above represent hexagons 186 through 215.

Though I will not show individual blocks up close I will say how many of each type of block I completed and show the corresponding pile of blocks.

I made nine blocks of #48 Jeannie.

I made five blocks of #13 Judy

I made seven blocks of #9 Doris

I made two blocks of #33 Kerry

The remaining blocks were singletons consisting of one of each of the following:

#29 Bev

#11 Susan

#8 Marina

#2 Carol

#1 Marie

#34 Christie

#10 Kelly

Kelly is the one shown in its entirety on the above pile. I really like her with these fabrics. I liked using a fabric with a linear feel for the central pieces of Kelly. I will be making a few more of these with other patterns.

I really had fun at the Go Congress this year, and one of the reasons I had such a good time was that I was able to keep stitching through the event.

Next year the congress will be in San Diego. I’ll be getting some guide books ahead of time and will perhaps go out three days early to make it into a real vacation.