Yes, it’s true. These little six-sided beauties have me enthralled. Why is that? First of all, they are simply charming, especially the smaller ones like these, which measure a mere half-inch on each side:

Fussy-cutting small prints can yield wonderfully whimsical results:

There’s more to their appeal than that, though: hexagons are made completely by hand. I fantasize about being a good hand quilter but find myself — at least for now — unwilling to invest in the amount of time it would take to become one. That would mean time away from my sewing machine, time away from designing quilts and home sewing projects, time away from reading quilt magazines and blogs, time away from the non-quilting aspects of my life.

But in little more than an hour, I can whipstitch together seven little hexagons and produce a thing of beauty. So satisfying! Trouble is, I don’t have a project in mind. When the mood strikes, I simply take fabrics I love and turn them into hexagons. I have a little plastic baggie of hexagons-in-the-making, all packed and ready for the road (or just an evening at home). They’re oh-so-portable, making them great take-along projects.

A traditional Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt is most definitely in my future. In fact, it’s already started. I have a few larger hexagons (1” per side) made, although they need another row:

(I stuck that baby hexie in there just to show you the difference in sizes.)

The idea of doing something a bit more modern with hexagons is also appealing. Fortunately, inspiration is close at hand:

Jaynette Huff’s book, Quilts from Grandmother’s Garden: A Fresh Look at Paper Piecing (That Patchwork Place, 2005) is chock full of ideas for “fabric floral arrangements” made with hexies, and one fine day I may actually get started on an arrangement of my own.

Are you hooked on hexagons, too?