QuiltCon is tomorrow, woohoo! I’m both excited and a little freaked out. I’m not use to traveling alone anymore and the weather isn’t the greatest in Maryland right now (winter hit us late!). For the first time ever I’m done all my projects and packed early. Who am I?!? I even properly photographed it all. What!?! Don’t get to use to this though, who knows how long this will last. Anyway…

There is this fun little tradition at QuiltCon I learned about, where people get 1″ buttons made with their name/business name/etc on them and they go around swapping with other people. They show them off on handmade lanyards or bags the whole trip. It’s a fun way of networking and helps break the ice when your meeting internet friends in real life for the first time. Absolutely brilliant!

I wanted to partake, and was about to go searching for my 1″ button machine, when the little light bulb over my head went off. Why not cast some pins? I had been trying to give myself some excuses to pour plastic again, because I really missed it. Perfect. I ordered some plastic and silicone and started making mock up designs. This was in early January.

I settled on a simple 1″ hexagon (because I REALLY love sewing hexagons) that I would just attach to my already designed business cards. I made a bunch of duplicate molds so I could cast a bunch of colors quickly. This was about the time that I also decided to make the quilty necklaces and soot sprites, because “why not? I already have the supplies”. If I had a quarter for every time I thought that…

I made around 200 of them, and will be bringing 150 with me to QuiltCon. The rest with be held on to for the shop and for myself. So if you’re not attending, keep an eye on this here blog for a shop update announcement.

I decided that it would be fun to make a little hashtag to go along with this project. So if you’re on Instagram or twitter, check out #askmeaboutmyhexies to see the process behind these pieces. Of course I had to go one step further and make myself a pin to go on my bags (shown above), and then one more step and start a contest…

For anyone going to QuiltCon who gets one of these pins: Take a photo of you, your bag, your pet, your friend or anyone else wearing one of these glittery hexies and tag me @jessee_artschooldropout with the hashtag #showmeyourglitterhexies for a chance to win a matching set of hexagon hairpins, necklace and ring! (I’ll have photos of the prize when I get home) I will take entries until the end of March, just to give everyone a chance.

I’m really hoping this helps me be more social. Sometimes I get super anxious around a lot of people, and I really want to make the most of my trip. So if you see me walking around, please come say hi and “Ask Me About My Hexies”, no need to have pins to swap, saying hello is enough!