Northern Lights

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The more you practice the better you get at something.  The same is true with quilting.  This quilt was supposed to be for my son Josh for Christmas (last Christmas).  Oh well, better late than never.  This panel is called Northern Lights by Abraham Hunter for Elizabeth’s Studio.  It claimed to be 36″ x 44″ but is was closer to 39″ wide.

I aligned my 6 panels, cut my hexagons and began designing around the panel.  I do not trim the panels before I align them.  Once they are aligned I can decide whether to use any of the borders or not.  I decided not to use the border in the blocks so when I guesstimated how much to trim off to even the edges , I included the borders.

I start by trying to get an idea of how many hexies will fit across the top and/or bottom of the panel. It is just like making a pieced border to fit around the center of a quilt. The width of the panel should be divisible by the finished size of my hexagon block.

You have two ways to make sure your hexagons will fit across the top and bottom of your panel. You can trim or add fabric to your panel and/or you can also adjust the size of your finished hexagon so it is divisible by the width of the panel.

Strip Width YeildsFinished Hexie Size
3.75”6.0”
3.50”5.5
3.25”5.0
3.00”4.5
2.75”4.0
2.50”3.5
2.25”3.0
2.0″2.5

I decided to cut my strips 3.75″ for 6″ finished hexagons and trim my panel to 36″ wide.  Six hexagons will fit across the bottom and/or top of the panel.

I kept playing with the design.

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Once I was satisfied with the design, I stitched the hexagons into four sections.

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I laid the top portion of hexies on the panel to help give me an accurate width to trim off.  I felt I would not lose an important part of the panel by cutting off the tree.

I trimmed the panel, Trimmed the portion of the hexies so it could be stitched to the panel.

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I discovered when the bottom set hexies were aligned with side hexies – I needed to add about 1 1/2″ of fabric.

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Now it all fit together wonderfully.  I just needed to hide the fabric I added and trim the top and bottom points.

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You can’t even tell where I added the fabric or hid it with smaller hexagons.  Next I will get quilted!

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No moose were hurt in the making of this quilt as Tucker was on duty supervising me the entire time.

using-panels-for-a-obw-copy-1Download

18 thoughts on “Northern Lights”

  2. Grace Lively

    Is there a kit for this quilt? If not, do you have a list of the fabrics that you used? It is gorgeous!

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      2. ifthesethreadscouldtalk Post author

        Yes, we layer the 6 panels, align them ,even one edge, and cut 3 3/4” WOF strips, then cut them into equilateral triangles. Each stack of 6 is a block. You have 3 choices of how to design your block. We stitch 3 triangles & 3 triangles but not the center seam, so there are no Y seams!

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      4. ifthesethreadscouldtalk Post author

        In the Heron I did cut on the long edge of the panel, although I don’t believe it makes a difference. They key is to align the 6 repeats and decide what is the best width to cut the strips. You want the width of the strips to take apart the design so you can sort the blocks by predominant color

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  3. Susan Morin

    I’m kind of confused as to how you hid the 1 1/2″ piece of fabric you added to the bottom of the moose? You don’t show that in your instructions or am I missing something? Are the hexies appliqued on?

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