Begining to put my hexagons together

Once all the fabric for my hexagons had been cut and attached to their paper counterparts (see here), it was time to set about joining them all together! 

When I started to do this, I hadn't really entirely decided upon the final design of my quilt, which obviously wasn't ideal but I was too impatient to get going. I did know that I wanted to join the different fabrics in a random way so started by putting all my hexagons into a bag so I could jumble them up and pick one at.

I began by simply piecing my hexagons together in any old order, not really paying attention to the shape it was becoming, but trying to attach as many together using the same length of thread. For this joining process I'm simply using plain white thread that I bought at Hobbycraft, and have 1000m of. I'm also using a 'between' needle, as I remember reading somewhere that these are one of the best types to use for hand quilting. 

As I got going a bit, I decided that it would be easier for me if I attached my hexagons in a hexagonal shape, so I set about joining them together to achieve this. 

As for how I've been attaching the hexagons together, I have been using a whip stitch over the edges of two hexagons, placed right sides together, like so:

I've found this method to work well for me, and goes relatively quickly. I've simply been making sure to make the stitches at the ends of the hexagons really tight and small to ensure there are no gaps when it's all turned out the right way.

Here is the progress of the quilt top, so far (which is about five days into starting the joining)

And a shot of the back too:

I have also decided that as I join the hexagons I'm going to take out the papers from the middle hexagons. I figured this would help make the fabric easier to work with as the paper obviously holds it stiff. 

I have therefore taken out all the middle papers, leaving only the hexagons around the outer edge with their papers intact, and here is what my quilt top looks like so far:

You can see the tacking stitches in the outer row of hexagons, where the paper is still being held, and these will be taken out when the next row of the large hexagon has been completed.

Through doing this process, I've decided that I want to keep this section of the quilt as a hexagon, rather than squaring it off as was my original plan. My plan, therefore, is to continue joining the hexagons together in this manner until I run out!