Hexagons

I'm thinking about starting a hexagon quilt project. I have so far avoided hand piecing in favor of the efficiency of my sewing machine. I am such a slow hand sewer. But these days I get fidgety when I have a free moment and nothing handy to sew. In the interest of always having something to take along on a train, in front of the tv or with the kid at the park, hexagons seem like a perfect long (long) term solution. 

I am going to use the English paper piecing method, which involves wrapping fabric around paper hexagons with a temporary basting stitch, hand stitching adjacent hexagons together and then removing the paper and the basting thread. 

The palette will be based on the rich red and royal blue in a shawl Hamish brought me from India.

I haven't settled on a pattern yet, but I know I'm not a grandma's-flower-garden type of guy. I'm toying with mixing small and large hexagons (3/4" and 3" sides, or 1" and 4" sides), with large fading into small. I colored up a few copies of a quick concept sketch. 

Red bigs fading into blue smalls:

Blue bigs fading into red smalls:

Blue fading to red, big and small:

I thought I was going to like the mixed colors best but right now I'm leaning toward blue bigs and red smalls. I guess that decision can wait until after I choose a size and cut out a boatload of paper hexagons.