When I saw this panel by Rubin Design Studio “Intricate Illustrated Kitty” of EQuilter, my heart skipped a beat. I just love the colors, the curves and the movement in this panel.

The panel measured 29″ x 43.5″. I could have cut 3.75″ strips for 6″ finished hexies and trimmed the panel to 42″. But, I decided to cut 3.25″ strips for 5″ finished hexies using my Star 60 Ruler. I would need to trim more of the panel, but I felt a smaller strip would make more interesting hexies. There is some stretching with bias edges, but in the end, I only needed to trim 1″ from bothe sides of the panel. I placed the panel in the middle of my design wall and began designing.

It is always a guessing game when trying to ddecide how far to go past the end of the panel when establishing the bottom row. We know that when we stitch together our hexies, we lose 1/2″ between the seams. But the vertical seams are much harder to calcutlate. The photo above shows the shrinkage, it was abut 3″.

I was playing around trying to find interesting ways for the Star 60 ruler to interact with the hexies. I came up with what I call Star 60 Spinners.

Basic Spinner: You need one hexie (taken apart), and two strips cut the same size as you cut you hexies from. Bedazzled had 5″ finished hexies, cut from 3.25″ strips. I cut one 3.25″ strip for the inner companion triangle and one 3.25″ strip for the side triangles.

With the strip folded, cut 6 sets of 2 side triangles and 3 sets of 2 companion triangles.

Decide what point is going in the center of your hexies, stitch the companion triangle to the opposite edge. Press seams open.

Lay out you side trinagles as shown above on either side of the companion triangle. Stitch the right sides first, then stitch the left sides. Press all seams open.

Construct as you would a hexagon, stitch 2 together, press the seams open then add the third. This made a 10″ finished hexie.

Once I made the Basic Spinner, I knew I could replace the companion triangle with other Star 60 units. I made the units half the size of my 5″ finished hexies. I made 6 – 2.5″ Capped 60, Framed 60, Quad 60 and Star 60 units. I really love these Star 60 Spinners.

Bedazzled measures 88″ x 71″. To get my uneven curvy sides on my OBW, I use half hexies following the Star 60 instrutions on page 10. Bedazzled is not quilted yet.

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