It's Sunday and I'm stitching slow....

Over a month ago I posted how far along I had gotten on my Hexie Quilt here.  Since then I've been working on it quite a bit and it's now reached this size.  Since I only have one more of the 'blocks' that I had pre-made ..... I need to start working up some more of them.

It takes a LOT of paper hexagons to baste and sew together so while I was sewing along I started thinking about how I 'reuse' my papers when I remove them as they get sewn together.   

When I first started I did buy several pkgs of paper hexagons from my LQS.  Then I found Geta Grama's site and she has a downloadable template so you can print and cut your own papers.   

So I bought me a ream of 110wt cardstock and started printing.  [[Make sure your printer is printing to scale]]  You don't want to do all that work and then not be able to use the paper hexies because they printed the wrong size.  Yep!  I did that!! 

So after printing and cutting I started basting ..... and sewing ..... and as I sewed I used to fold the adjoining hexie so I could get a good straight seam.  That made the papers weaken at those folds.  I found if I ironed them they would toughen up a bit and they were good for another baste.  

This is a picture of how distorted they can get after folding.  

After I had a pile of papers removed I would take a big handful and use a hot dry iron and just press.  (do not iron back and forth)  Just press & lift and press until all papers are flat.  Works like a charm and I've been able to reuse these papers over and over.  Now when I find one that is too flimsy I just toss it and look forward to printing some more.  Thanks Geta!  

I'm heading over to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching to link up.  And from there I'll be linking on Karen's Sew Darn Crafty Linky Party.  Come and join us to see what others are working on.   

But for now..... Have a great weekend.  And stitch happy!