Texas Trellis or Whirling Hexagon

I saw this block on Barbara Brackman's Material Culture blog the other day, and fell in love with it.  It was new to me, so I left her a comment asking her what it was called.  She wrote back telling me it was called Texas Trellis or Whirling Hexagon.  I knew I had to make one of my own using my paisley collection.

I have never worked with hexagons before, and I am very intrigued by this one.  I found a paper pieced pattern at Quilter' Cache under Whirling Hexagon, but it was small and I didn't want to deal with paper piecing for something that looked much easier to do without it.  I did print out the pattern so I could do some measurements.  The one in the photo at Brackman's blog had wider spokes, but I wanted to try narrower ones.  I sewed a strip of 2.5" paisley to 4.5" background.  I discovered that to make all six triangles I needed, I had to have 45.5".  I cut them using a 30 degree angle.  I have several extra triangles witch are reversed, but I will figure out how to use them somehow.  I can't wait to make these up with all my paisleys.  I think they will make a wonderful quilt.

While I was watching Bella earlier in the week, she and Tom made this.  They both have good eyes for color.  I really like this one.  Bella or Tom and Bella have made many of these designs on the small design board I made for her.  This one is my favorite.  I really wish I was skilled enough to figure out how to turn this into a small quilt for Bella's stuffed animal friends.  I know there must be a way.  Bella also helped me sew a few squares together on the machine.  She didn't think it was as much fun as designing.  I think I feel that way sometimes, too.
I really did get quite a bit done in the studio today, but I can't show it because it is a surprise for my husband.  His birthday is coming up and I want to make him something special.  I will show it to you all after the 21st.
I will leave you all with this ribbon.  It is one of the ribbons I made for the winners of our guild quilt show.  I won people's choice for Hokule'a which I entered as a challenge block.

Joyful quilting, everyone!