This is it . . . for now . . . .

My Dulcinea blocks are sewn together and the first border and cornerstones are attached.  That's all any of us - including myself - are going to see for the time being.  I'm using the pieces for the next border as my leaders and enders for the rest of the month.  I've got a general idea of how that border will look, but I won't work out the specifics until the pieces are finished.  I also have a back-up plan in case I hate how the first one looks.

This quilt is made from "Posh", a line by Chez Moi for Moda that came out quite a few years ago.  The inner border and the background are the only fabrics that aren't part of this collection.  Why I didn't buy yardage from the same collection for the border I don't know.  I imagine that yardage was probably not available for any of the fabrics I considered for this border.  It is a bit darker and not quite as bright, and now that I've sewn it together I think this makes a better "frame" than one of the collection pieces would have done.  As for the background, I was originally planning on white, but I'm running low on that and this pale yellow needed to be used.

Right now I have no idea what I'll work on next.  I have so many choices!  More piecing?  Some hand quilting?  A bit of applique (though no projects requiring applique are on my current "to do" list).  (As though I'll let that stop me if I decide that applique is what I really want to do!)

Some progress

I unexpectedly spent most of the day away from home - coffee with a friend, who suggested we make a trip to Fabric Depot.  So we did, spending almost two hours there!  A nice lunch together followed, and I made it home by 3:00.  Printed fabric and notions were both on sale, so I bought fabric for a sundress for each of my granddaughters, plus some needed quilting notions.  No quilt fabric was bought, though the scraps from the sundresses will go into the scrap box and will feel right at home.

So my plan to sew the June Schnibbles top didn't materialize, but I did finish 13 of the 16 blocks.  I like how they turned out, but in retrospect I wonder if I wouldn't have liked a white background better.  This will be fine - it is what it is - and I'll tuck this bit of "learning" into the quilty part of my brain where it will - hopefully! - not get lost.

9 of the 13 finished blocks

My plan for tomorrow is to finish the rest of the blocks, sew them together and then add the borders.  I don't have enough charm squares left to border the top as the pattern shows.  I'm fine with that because it seems a bit busy to me.  So I'm trying something else, and have a backup plan if that doesn't work.

Sewing

Yes, I've been sewing.  That is no surprise.  However, "Sewing" is the name of the last block in row 3 of Civil War Diary.

3-11:  Sewing

I took a second picture so you could see how small the half square triangles are.  They measure between 5/8" and 3/4", but bigger than 11/16".  Just a thread or two under 3/4".  No way to sew those accurately except for paper piecing.  (I suppose one could use templates, but just trying to hold onto pieces that small would be a big challenge.)

I'm happy to report that I did NOT have to stand on my ironing table to put this row on the design wall.  Kneel, yes, but not stand. I could keep my head straight up without bumping into the ceiling.  I think I'll be able to pin the fourth row from the stool itself.  Much better!

3 rows - click on picture to see details

Now I'm putting this away until next month at the earliest.  I'll shoot for finishing another row in July.  Four of the eleven blocks needed for the next row are finished.

Now for the big question - what do I work on next?  I'm taking hand quilting to quilt group tonight, but what is the next project for the machine.  I'm thinking the June Schnibbles.  My fabrics are so far from what I normally use, but I really love them!

It is simply amazing!

A foundation block goes together so easily when one cuts all the pieces large enough!  Since I will never use my stash in my lifetime, I need to stop worrying about conserving 1/4" cuts of fabric when they make all the difference in ease of construction.

3-9:  Beginning of War

This definitely needed blocking to flatten out all those little seams and stretch to equal a 6 1/2" block.

Remembrances

3-7: Remembrances

This block drove me nuts!

I looks like a simple enough block.  Squares and triangles except for the one long green piece that occurs 4 times, once in each quarter of the block.  I figured "no sweat - I'll just cut a rectangle, then fold back the paper foundation to cut the angle of the attached triangle.  Figured I could do this in less than two hours - no problem, right?

3-4:  Robbers

Wrong!  Two things are happening here that tend to give me fits.  Primarily, it is not a symmetrical block.  Trying to reverse it in my brain so it looks like the foundations is something I've never been able to do well.  See that large brown triangle?  Took me at least 3 tries before being convinced that the hypotenuse didn't go in either of the places I was trying to put it while sewing on this triangle.

Secondly, it involves fairly large half-square and quarter-square triangles.  I know my triangle math - add 7/8" for half square triangles and 1 1/4" for quarter square triangles when figuring the cutting sizes.  I figured adding an extra quarter-inch more on each leg was enough.  Wrong!  I needed to add at least 1/2" in order for the triangles to be big enough in all directions.  Especially on quarter-square triangles.  So all but the smallest triangles were barely big enough, and had to be placed perfectly to give adequate seam allowance on all edges.  Needless to say, placing them perfectly was almost impossible.  I did so much ripping that my poor paper foundations were falling apart.  I didn't want to waste fabric by cutting bigger pieces, so instead I wasted several hours.  I did recut several pieces towards the end - I just wanted it to be over.

And now that it is over, I did some investigating in Electric Quilt.  Low and behold - it is possible to make a mirror image when printing foundation papers.  It would have helped so much on a few of the blocks I've already finished.  At least I know it now for all the rest of them!

I figured I could finish this second row easily today, but now I'm not sure.  I really want to, so I can move on to another of this month's goals.

Design wall - er, floor! - Part II

I didn't want to take the civil war diary blocks off my design wall - it involves standing on my ironing table or the top step of the stool, and I don't like heights.  I figured for this shot the floor works OK.

Here is the current "shot" of the shoo fly blocks.  This is all the blocks I've made, minus the 10 "negative blocks" that don't have "positive blocks" to partner with.  I definitely need to keep better track the next time I'm cutting for these quilts.

If you compare this picture with the last one, you'll notice that the addition of reds and a few yellows really perk up this quilt.  Hopefully there are more yellows in the scrap basket - if not I'll need to supplement from the shelves.  I know there are many greens in the basket, which is what this quilt needs the most right now.  I'll focus on those in the next cutting session.  I have no idea if there are any purple or orange scraps in the basket - if not I'll pull from the shelves for those also.  Pinks likewise.

I'm loving how this is coming together!  Now I'm thinking of a pieced border from half square triangles to use up all those I've added to that box.  I'll play with that when the time comes.

Design wall Monday - Part 1

Two full rows of Civil War Diary, plus 7 of 11 blocks of the third row, are currently on my design wall.

As soon as I press the shoo fly blocks I made yesterday I will add them to the design wall.  That's why this is part 1.  I'll post part 2 this afternoon.

Scrap Basket Sunday

I took time to make one more Civil War Diary block this morning, and then switched my focus to shoo fly blocks.  Remember this picture?

This is what these squares and triangles look like now.  One finished block and 51 almost finished blocks.  All that is needed are the two crosswise seams in each block and then a good pressing.

I should have gotten at least another 20 blocks from these scraps, but I ran out of pairings.  Squares left with no triangles to match, and vice versa.  Sets of  three triangle squares instead of four.  Now the remainders are residing in the totes for 2 1/2" half-square triangle squares and 2 1/2" triangles.  No worries - there are certainly plenty of scraps left in the basket for dozens more blocks.

3-3:  Bad Box

This block went together quickly, as the only parts I paper pieced were the corners.