Saturday, August 26, 2017

Not there yet, but trying to catch up!

Busy busy busy!  I kept thinking I'd get a post thrown up (not in the vomiting sense) (well, considering how many pictures this post has, maybe it kind of is...), but didn't get it done.

I've actually been madly knitting and sewing here in the background, but some of those projects are for gifts and I don't want to spoil any surprises.  But I did manage to get some blogable stuff done.

I'd fallen behind on the Temecula Marvelous Monday Minis, but am now all caught up again.
This Anvil block from the beginning of the month was fussy, but doable.


 But when I saw the next week's mini log cabins using a 1" center square and 3/4" strips, I noped right into another plan.


Sewing together the ends of two 1" strips, I then trimmed the red square to 3/4" from the seam (to be that 1" center) and cut the light 1/2" away from the seam.  That was a whole lot easier than sewing a 3/4"x1" strip to a 1" square, I'll tell ya.


I proceeded with that same strategy, sewing my block-in-progress to progressively wider strips,


and trimming them to size afterward.



And just because I can't leave well enough alone, I made a second block using the traditional half-light/half-dark sequence.





And ended up with two rather nice log cabins, which gives me an extra block if I need one.

Then a quick shoo-fly for this week's block, and I'm all caught up.  Yay!


I even managed to get some blocks done for the 365 Challenge that I started (and floundered) last year.




That takes me almost to the end of May, so I'm only a summer behind now!  This could still happen!

And there was considerable work done on Are We There Yet, even though I made some epic fails that slowed things down a bit.
Like this block that I knew perfectly well what size grid was needed, but grabbed the bin of the wrong size strips anyway.  Directions?  Who needs directions?


Once I made the block the correct size, things went a lot smoother.


Of course, they weren't going quite as smoothly as I thought they were, since I discovered I'd left another mistake in my wake.

 There's a strip of checkerboard that's 1x14 (the blue arrows show the top and bottom of it) that I sewed in upside down, so some of the checkers are incorrectly boarded.
I went back through my photos and discovered that I'd laid out that section right, but had flipped it somewhere in the process of sewing things together.


My seam ripper is my best friend...


There.   That's better.

And now -


It's together, except for one last long vertical seam that joins the left side to the right side.  My original plan was to quilt it in sections and sew that seam afterward, then add the borders and quilt them.   But I just saw a tutorial the other day on quilting in a square spiral, and now I'm thinking that maybe that's what I want, instead of the straight vertical lines that I'd intended.
You all knew that I'd have to have one final dither about this quilt, right?

And I have a few leftovers from all the effort.


There's that too-small pluses block,  and there's an extra log cabin which I'd purposely made in case there was trouble in making the blocks show up against whatever sashing color I ended up with.  Then there's that leftover pineapple, which is a sad sad tale.  I'd been working on the pineapple blocks as I went along, since they're so labor intensive and fiddly that I know I would have burnt out on them if I'd done them all at once.  But they'd gotten a bit scattered, what with being a leader/ender among all the other Long Time Gone blocks.  When I had them almost done, I counted them.  Then I counted them again because I was one short.  Then I counted them again because I couldn't possibly be one short because that would mean I'd have to make another one.  From scratch.  And I was one short every time I counted.
Some of you may have heard the sound I made at that point - it was a cross between a scream and a sob.
But I pulled myself together and made a whole 'nother pineapple block, grumbling all the way, and added it to the stack.
And then counted them again.
And had one extra.
And then I made a whole different kind of noise - a sort of high-pitched keening that set all the local dogs to howling and made all the babies cry...


Linking with Quilting is more fun than Housework for this week's Oh Scrap!  Come join the fun!

19 comments:

Libby in TN said...

Oh, but it's SO worth it! Looks great. Can't wait to see that square spiral thing happening.

Wanderingcatstudio said...

Okay... I think we can coin a new phrase... "blog vomit"!

Seriously - you are amazing and crazy insane with those mini-blocks. I refuse to sew anything smaller than 4 inches.

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

You have been busy! Love seeing your Monday Mini blocks - I've just been working on mine, too. I'm so curious about what's going to happen with them! Maybe this week? Your Are We There Yet quilt is a big "Wow!" Just beautiful!

Kate said...

Wow, you've gotten a lot done. Are we there yet is looking great. Hope you can let the seam ripper rest for a bit now.

Cynthia Brunz Designs said...

Your quilt top is amazing! I love the orange sashing. It really sets off those different sections. I think you completed a lot!

kmkat said...

Your quilts are soooo impressive. And don't beat yourself up over that counting mishap -- I cannot count either, and I am a CPA!

Sally Trude said...

I am so impressed with how you get quilts to come together. What an outstanding quilt. And I'm also amazed that you're going to make an entire pineapple quilt, just to give that one little block a home.

The Joyful Quilter said...

That's quite the tale of a quilt coming together. LOVE your version!!! (Of your quilt AND the story behind.) Thanks for sharing!

MissPat said...

I heard you laughing hysterically at Sally's comment. Love your version of Long time gone.

Pat

chrisknits said...

I hear you on the counting! Are there Gremlins or Goblins that hide them from us when we count? Everything looks good.

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

Feel free to throw up on your blog anytime, if it keeps looking like this post. So many beautiful blocks. I admire so much how much you get done. I've had counting issues like that. Maybe the quilt wanted a pineapple block on the back.

Karen's Korner said...

I think that we all make those very "painful" noises from time to time. LOL. Lovely things happening at your place.

Sue SA said...

Noises that indicate distress are quite common in my sewing room. Honestly sometimes I wonder if I am like a cartoon figure, with the missing block stuck to my bum, while I aimlessly walk around looking for it! ;)

Mystic Quilter said...

Oh Long Tim e Gone is stunning Gayle - congratulations on putting this one together and the orange sashing is perfect!!

Chantal said...

I hear your pain and I share your distress. Shakespeare in the Park did that trick on me too. Webster should have words for moments like these!! Happy to see you are still working on it and not sending it off to the closet for a cool down for a month or two. It looks great as do your TMM minis. Awesome work!! Hang in there. ;^)

Anne Ida said...

OMG! Your Are We There Yet is absolutely fabulous! Way to go! And well done for plugging through and correcting the mistakes. Loving your mini blocks too :-)

Angie said...

Are We There Yet? looks amazing - the orange sashing was a great idea! I'm looking forward to seeing how you quilt it - I'm always on the look out for new quilting ideas.

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

Your LongTimeGone is amazing! I really love the orange sashing!

QuiltGranma said...

I've seen some wonderful totes made with orphan blocks as accents! No waste! What a fun way to ring in the groceries, or take projects to a class?