Whirling Hexagons

Here's a pattern I'd never seen before having this quilt come in for repairs.  And green is my favorite color.  So I had a good time working on it!

Barbara Brackman's book shows it with two names - Whirling Hexagons and Texas Trellis. The block has a really simple geometry that makes a vibrant overall pattern.  It might work well as a scrap quilt, too.

This quilt is one of several family heirlooms that I've been repairing.  The quilts were made in Louisiana, and the family is now having me mend as many as possible after a long time in storage.  This one needed a new binding, a couple of patches (for which fabric from one of my husband's vintage shirts was a perfect match), and quite a few open seams closed.  I imagine the quilt was made in the 1960s or so. 

This quilter had an interesting solution to the ever-curious question of how to finish off the uneven edges of a hexagon quilt.  The two most jagged of the uneven sides were appliqued onto border strips.  The binding along the other two sides was finished with a scalloped inner edge which fills in the waviness between the hexagons (see the top photo). 

The original binding was the turquoise back fabric brought around to the front of the quilt. Here's a "before" picture of the torn edge.