Jax and Buckeyes and Demented Rails - it's getting a little chaotic here...

This week I managed to make another Centennial star and another Jacks, bringing the April total of each to three.

Then I even managed a couple of Buckeyes, which means I think my total April output may be better than March.

Meanwhile, I was also steadily stitching away my triangles for Totally Demented, and even doing a bit of leader/ender sewing for Checkerboard Rails.

That's the view just to the left of my sewing machine - checkerboards on the left and demented triangles on the right.  So far I'm keeping them straight and not sewing the wrong bits to each other, but no guarantees.

I got curious about what the blocks are going to look like, so I started playing.

The pattern is here, and looking closely, there are four blocks in each quadrant, so I laid out enough bits to see what the center of the quadrant was going to look like where those four come together.

I'm starting to vaguely wonder if working on those quadrants simultaneously might be a good plan.  If I build each out from the center, I could theoretically bail out when I think the quilt is big enough (or when I just can't stand piecing another triangle...)

Yep, this is going to be fun!  As long as I don't think too hard about how many of those little blocks I'm going to need...

And now it's an Official Project -

the bin has been labeled.


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And the award for Procrastination goes to...

Me.  Definitely me.  I actually got a bit of sewing done, and remembered to take pictures, but lost steam before getting a post put together.

Hey, look!  Honest to goodness RSC blocks -

A couple of Jacks, and a couple of Centennials to add to my growing collections.

And I'm still drifting along on my Storm at Sea (aka Sea of Tranquility), with the end in sight.  I think I actually made too many of the largest squared block (and there's no down side to that), and I just lack a few of the diamonds.  I think I have enough of the smallest squared block, too, though I'm going to count carefully again to make sure.

Layout is next, and picking out what to use for setting triangles, since I'm 99% sure that I'm setting this on point.  (If I don't set it on point, I'll have to redo the layout and block count from scratch and there's no stinkin' way I'm falling for that...)

There were also some HSTs for Demented, but I didn't bother to take a photo, since one stack of HSTs looks remarkably like another.  You can use your imaginations, I'm sure.

Remember this quilt?  I've been slowly but surely hand-quilting it for all this time, with occasional help from my little buddy.

Turns out he really likes sleeping in that hoop.  I set it aside the other day when I finished the center portion of the quilt because it was too big for working on the borders.

 Look who's enjoying the imaginary cat nest.

Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday, and with Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  Both are terrific places to spend the weekend!

It seems like forever...

In the spirit of catching up -

Though I didn't get much done for March's RSC light green sewing, I'm trying to do better with April.  So far, all I've got is a block for Squared Away, but hey, I'll take it!

When I went to save that picture, I noticed that I only had photos of the January and February blocks for Squared Away - no March.  Now I'm trying to remember if I even made that block.  (March was one of those 'the days are just packed' months)  This is further complicated by the fact that the Jan and Feb ones have disappeared into some sort of safe place.  (You know, that "I'll just put these in a safe place" so you don't lose them?  Yeah, that one.)

I took a moment to play with Libby's Mystery - I'm way way behind on that one.  The reveal is really interesting, and I'm going to sit down with all my bits for some big fun.  She also gave us a really intriguing bonus block that I'm eyeing with great interest.

My big push right now is Sea of Tranquility for my granddaughter.  I'd done the math for the number of blocks I needed, both for a good-sized quilt and for a wimpy-chickenout-can-this-be-big-enough-please quilt.  Last time I counted, I was still quite short of the number of blocks that I needed for the wimpy one, and was feeling guilty about even considering settling for the smaller version.  That resulted in the project going back into its box while I chided myself.  It's really a struggle for me to work with a limited colorway - this Storm at Sea pattern I'm making is all just blues, greens, and blue-greens, and while it's probably good for my soul or something to work outside of my comfort zone (my comfort zone being the use-all-the-colors zone), it's damn hard.   And since there was no real deadline, I could just blow off my foot-dragging.
Periodically I've pulled out components and pieced more bits and stuffed them back into the box without counting.
I finally decided that my desire to make the quilt was stronger than my desire not to work with the limited colors, so I pulled it all out and started counting the blocks I had finished.

And woohoo!  I found that I'd pieced enough blocks that I'd blown right by the wimpy count and was just short of what I need for the size I actually want to make!  I spent a good part of today making more diamonds and squares, and enjoying the process again.
Next thing I know, I'll be crawling around on my design floor, laying out the blocks.
Dithering about setting triangles can't be far behind!

Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday, and with Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  Come join the fun!