Making big scrappy quilts from small blocks can be challenging and it's easy to get discouraged or get tired of the processes. I think that is perfectly normal and it's a good idea to take breaks and work on other things when feeling overwhelmed. This quilt project was set aside for almost 4 months, and it may get pushed aside a few more times before completed.
Everything you will see in today's post took three days to complete, working an hour or two at a time. Taking breaks to rest he mind and body, plus I do have a life other than quilting. I must eat, bath and keep up with the rest of the chores in Podunk.
Each block requires (6) different background squares, (1) set of (4) matching half square triangles and (1) set of (2) matching half square triangles. These matching sets of half square triangles are from my bonus HST stash. This project has barely put a dent in that stash.
Adding the small half square triangles to the large half square triangles was the easy part. If I had to guess I would say this task was completed in under an hour.
Adding the (6) scrappy background squares proved to be a bit more challenging. It would have been easier had I had a wider variety of background prints.
It took a while. I'm not a clock watcher so I really have no idea how long. I just work until I need a break and then came back and started again...several times. By the way, I don't have a clock in my sewing room and I'm not one to look at my phone clock. More often than not my phone is in the other room on silent, all social media notifications are turned off, all day every day. When taking a break, I'll take a picture of my progress and check my phone to see if anyone called, texted or emailed.
During my break on this day I had to come up with a plan for storing these. Can you believe it? I had no plan whatsoever!
After finding a storage solution for the cake stand blocks it was time to start the harder task of sorting fabrics for the 16 patches. Since there's 16 fabrics in each block, I need a little more space so I can see each fabric in the blocks.
My goodness! I'm pretty sure I got in my 10,000 steps on this day.
It was a reverse matching game. But I did it! Each block has 16 different fabrics! Yipee! The chances of two of the same fabrics touching when the quilt is assembled is pretty good but I'm crossing my fingers and hoping the quilty odds are in my favor.
Each little 16 patch was neatly stacked and placed on design boards then placed in a storage box. Four boards total.
The test block and the fabrics for the inset blocks were also added to the box.
I won't assemble the inset blocks and corner blocks until all the cake stand blocks and 16 patch blocks are completed and put on the design wall.
The cake stand blocks were stored in the same manner. The only difference is I had to stack several blocks on top of each other. The picture below shows one block, the large half square triangle on the bottom and the rest of that blocks fabrics stacked on top.
About 4 or 5 blocks are stacked together on the boards.
Inside this storage tote is my notes for the quilt and the test block.
This project will be put away for a few days. I still have the Strawberry Shortcake quilt on the quilt frame. It hasn't been touched in about two weeks. Time to get in there and knock it out!
All of your prep work will make the assembly so smooth and easy! Your quilt will be another stunner!
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you have a very good method of storing this project.
ReplyDeleteHoly cow! Your level of organization is amazing and inspiring. It makes so much sense to pair everything together before you sew it. Maybe that would alleviate my anxiety that the finished product won’t look good. I’m going to give it a try. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete