I packed away the Dear Jane blocks,clearing the design wall and allowing something else to be put up there. I was so excited to see the blank wall that I went a little mad, sewing haphazardly on three different projects without waiting to tidy away the debris scattered over every surface. I sewed like a crazy woman for two hours, then sat down and ironed it all and debated about what to concentrate on first.
In the centre of that lot are 35 grey and shirting fourpatches for Bonnie's Easy Street mystery, which Mereth asked me to make about three weeks ago. Done now.
There's another 6 of these green and cream blocks to add to the pile. I only have three kits left of them, so I will have to rustle some more up to use as leader-enders. I have no idea what to do with these blocks, but I'll investigate setting possibilities in EQ7 soon. They are still fun to make, but the controlled colour scheme is so boring (yawn).
I remembered my 16patches from last year, so I made another 6 of them, and sewed up the strips for a lot more. They are so easy and cute, but..... Maybe they'd be even cuter if they were smaller; strip set of 1" finished strips included for comparison. Maybe too small; might just have to try 1.25" finished and see if that's the perfect size. I'm very Goldilocks in my approach to designing.
The basket of fabric that I referred to as a Kit was in fact nothing more than a lot of fabric thrown in haphazardly, with a few strips cut and a lot of green triangles. And a couple of pieced bits that I'd tried for size ( see Goldilocks comment above)
The quilt I'm aiming to repoduce is this one, and copying it has been on my list for more than 10 years. I bought it on Ebay, from a very concientious seller. I paid $37 for it, and then she emailed me that she was so ashamed of it's condition that she couldn't sell it to me. I protested hotly that I wanted it anyway. When it arrived, there was a cheque for $15 in with it, to assuage her guilt at me having paid so much for such a rubbish quilt. It has some stains and a few worn spots, but it's still lovely, and totally worth what I paid for it.
I'm strip piecing the rows, so it will go very quickly, and the strips are cut 3" wide, which seems enormous after the Dear Jane blocks. This is my progress so far;
I might put an extra row in, and it might be black and pink, or it might be grey and pink. My onboard computer will process that while I work on the other rows.
$37? Totally worth it! Minus the $15 a super bargain!
ReplyDeleteI like seeing how your mind works when you are sewing. I couldn't work like you do - I am more one project at a time; but I still find it interesting how others think and work.
Thanks for sharing. I don't comment very often but always follow along. :)
Judy
Love all of your projects and the way you work!
ReplyDeleteI find your restraint amazing, packing Dear Jane away when you were all finished! Does this mean you intend to hand quilt it in the winter? Either way I am sure you will do it justice.
ReplyDeleteI love love love your antique quilt. That pattern is not one I had seen before, so I really appreciated seeing your in progress photo. I have a project started years before that stalled because I had to do a seminol (sic)
and it wouldnt work for me, because I didnt know how to avoid the bias. I also think this "block" will make a nice table runner, so thanks for the inspiration!
I'm amused to see you flitting around like a butterfly after the DJ experience. Was it you just had to go sew bigger pieces of fabric together?
ReplyDeleteSometimes quilters just have to sit and sew something, no matter what it is, and let fabric run through our fingers.
Its fun to revisit old projects.