During the 1930s and 1940s, two Illinois quilters were inventing their own patterns for hexagon quilts. 

The first quilt we are highlighting is a Grandmother's Flower Garden pattern in a typical style and the popular colors of the 1930s.

Albert Small designed and pieced three hexagon pattern quilts, including one named Mosaic.

Bertha Stenge designed and made several quilts based on the hexagon, including one named Mosaic, or Grandmother's Garden. 

The fourth featured quilt is actually a quilt top of silk in a variation on Hexagon Star pattern. It also reveals the construction method and some historical documents.

History of Hexagon patterns

The earliest hexagon template that quilt researchers have found was made in England in 1770. Hexagon became one of the most popular patterns in England by 1830.

In 1835 Godey's women's magazine published a pattern for this block called the Hexagon pattern. It had complete instructions for the paper-piecing construction technique. 

Hexagon patterns, always popular in the United States, blossomed in the 1930s under the moniker Grandmother's Flower Garden.