Hexagon Insanity?

 Some times it's best to just sit and stitch on something which doesn't require too much concentration and this quilt made from half inch hexagons is just what I needed. I plan on taking it on our travels and it is so easy to put together that I have made good progress. The pattern was originally by Rhonda Pearce and she called it The Insanity Quilt. When the pattern came out on the cover of an Australian patchwork magazine I didn't keep it as I thought I'd never be crazy enough to want to stitch such small pieces. It seems that I was wrong!

 I am going to tackle it like a Dear Jane by keeping a record of how many pieces I have stitched and I hope to be able to share photos of me stitching in various places on our trip to Europe. I will leave the largest piece at home though and just work on part of the top and then add it when we return.

 One thing which is making this project very easy is that I have bought a die from Accuquilt which cuts half inch hexagons (6 at a time) and on the other end it cuts fabric large enough to use with the half inch templates. IT has made it very easy to quickly cut fabric and more templates.

 I've found that the cardboard packages for a lot of grocery items are ideal to cut as templates.

 I'm using glue sticks as they work as well as the Sewline glue and I can buy 4 for $1 or $2. I have found it is easier to remove the templates and I can re-use them if I glue them rather than stitching them across the corners as I prefer to do with larger pieces.

My Insanity Quilt (with a huge thank you to Rhonda Pearce for sharing her pattern with us) will be known as "Memory Lane" as it's like taking a walk down memory lane every time I use up scraps from previous quilt projects.
 This quilt uses a total number of  10,339 hexagons sized at half an inch.
Total diamond flower shapes are 158 (1422 hexagons).
Total hexagon flower shapes are 64 (448 hexagons).
Total solid sashing uses 1068 (I am using a Moda red).
Total number of colourful random hexagons in the outer border  are 2012 hexagons.
Total number of white/neutral hexagons are 5389.

I am using a mix of white, white on cream, white on white, and cream for my neutrals.
Total Hexagons Stitched to Date:
 Diamond shapes: 27 of 158.
Total hexagon flowers: 13 of 64.
Solid red sashing 6 of 1,068.
Random hexagons for outer border: 101 of 2012.
Neutral hexagons: 85 of 5389.
 I have started to stitch some of the diamond shapes together as stitching all the neutral hexagons will be tedious if I leave them all to the last bit of the quilt. I think it will be a very good project to take with me as they don't take up a lot of room. I'm now having second thoughts about taking some applique work in case the lighting isn't good enough for that type of stitching.
Hugs, Jan Mac