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 Yeilds | Finished 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.

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

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.


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

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

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

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