The Hexie Garden Quilt pattern is made up of hexagonal blocks. Each block is made up of 6 wedges. You don’t want to cut the backgrounds into wedges until the applique is complete because of the bias edges. In the pattern, I tell you to cut a rectangle for each background. I did that for two reasons:

1. In many of the blocks, I was matching stripes and other lines.
2. I liked working on that size of background.

Char Kirscht has been working on her Hexie Quilt Garden quilt and she wrote to tell me that she handled her backgrounds in a different way. She cut strips 10″ x width of fabric (40″ or so). Then she drew 60° angles to simulate where where the blocks will be cut apart after they are appliqued. You could use either a 60° ruler or the block template to get the lines.

Please note that some fabrics may not be 40″ wide, especially after washing and drying.

I would still mark the vertical and horizontal centers of each block to match the overlay to during applique. You might be tempted to just use the 60° block outlines but if you do that, be very careful not to let the flowers shift or tilt.

Once the applique is done you can press the strip and cut the blocks apart and follow the remaining cutting directions in the pattern.

If you aren’t matching patterns or stripes in the background fabric, and if you like work on a long, narrow background, this is a good option. If I’d have thought of it, I’d have included it in the book. Thank you, Char, for making this very fine suggestion!