I'm still cutting up the shirts, and kitting up blocks to use as leader-enders. I like having a stack of simple block kits in a box by the machine, ready to add to the end of my chain piecing. But all too often I get obsessed with the leader-ender project, and my main project gets pushed to one side. That's why I'm in such a mess at the moment, working on four things instead of one. But instead of putting aside all but the main project, I just sew faster on all four. It's a bit exhausting.
I'm kitting these simple blocks, I'm up to 25 sets of pieces ready to sew. I have 20 finished, and I need 80, so I'm halfway there already.
I'll still need to cut more strips, but that's satisfying because 3.5" strips really take a chunk out of the shirt pieces. I can see the pile growing smaller now.
After I finished the border of little squares on the Churn Dash quilt I realised that I had an awful lot of leftover light and dark squares, already pieced in pairs. I also had a big pile of 2.5" strips, so I came up with this simple block to use them up.
It's incredibly quick to sew, and it does a nice job of using up the leftovers, and it's an easy leader-ender. It's a win all round. Except that it finishes at 5", and to have a decent size quilt I'll need at least 144, and the leftovers won't stretch that far. So now I'm cutting up more 1.5" strips, and more 2.5" strips; maybe this time I can calculate how many I'll need and cut only that amount. If I don't do that, I'm going to have a new quilt rise up out of the leftovers of this quilt. It's never-ending.
When I made my first plaid quilt, I cut way too much fabric and ended up with enough leftovers for two more quilts, the last of which was a lap quilt. Have you ever thought about just making a lap quilt or throw out of your leftovers?
ReplyDeleteVery pretty quilt. I understand about becoming more interested in the leader/ender project, been there, done that! Happy Stitching!
ReplyDeleteI've really enjoyed seeing your shirting projects. Makes me think that I need to look harder at the 2nd hand stores for good shirts to take home!
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