All my Sand Castle blocks are now trimmed and up on the design wall, though that wall, which seems really big when it's empty, has been overrun. The blocks on that raggedy right-hand edge are hanging on for dear life, pinned to each other and air.
For now, the goal was to get them up and oriented, without worrying too much about what-goes-where. I'll be spending some quality time this weekend, arranging and rearranging until I'm happy with the color/value distribution. I can already see that I'll be wrangling some yellows right away.
The fun thing about all those blocks is that they should have measured 10.5" after squaring up, but all but two of them wanted to come out to a smidge under 10 3/8" instead. Of course, the first one I trimmed was the correct size, and the second one was an "oh no!" as it came up short. I set it aside, grabbed a third one - and came up short again. And again. And again.
"Alrighty then," I said to myself. "The only thing that matters is that they're the SAME size, not some imaginary 'correct' size."
(I was proud of myself for being calm and practical instead of freaking out) (Even if I'm talking to myself out loud an awful lot these days) (I'm sure it'll be fine)
In other news, I've got a back done for the Temperature quilt.
Though I may run a strip of that stripe down the left edge as well, just for fun. There's still time to decide, as I psych myself up to get it basted.
I think I can, I think I can... (Did I say that out loud?)
16 comments:
Oh those sandcastles look amazing all together!
Oh, that circle fabric is absolutely perfect for your temperature quilt! Your Sand Castles is looking great. That one (as most Bonnie Hunter patterns are) is a real labor of love. Feel free to talk to yourself and even answer. Sometimes we are our own best company! xo
Your Sandcastle quilt is just awesome! I talk to my cats but they don't listen like I do to myself.
I love the way you build Sand Castles...and no sand in the swim suit to deal with!
And why do you think I never measure my blocks and rarely trim unless it's a block where you absolutely have to do so like string blocks.
That backing would be good for any quilt. Dots and stripes, oh yeah!
You can, you can, you can, I think!
Impressive! I saw the yellows right away, too. Maybe wrangle them into the center?
Wow. It looks great! I am working on arranging my sand castle blocks this week as well. We have several things in common. I put my blocks on the bed and the blocks on the edge of our California king bed were hanging on for dear life... I also only had a couple of blocks measure 10.5". Hmmm... I did not trim them all the same but got them as close as I could. I figured it was a scrap quilt and as long as the white 1" strips (finished at .5" in the quilt) matched up good enough I'd wing it. I also needed to re-distribute the yellow blocks! That's a lot in common!
I like your light sand vs. my brown sand, but it's too late for any changes for me. I have four of the rows sewn together. I hope to make great progress on it today. I started arranging the colors like Bonnie Hunter did in the book. At the end it was getting dark and I had to keep going back and forth with the book to the light. I couldn't tell if it was grey or blue or whatever... I just winged it with the bottom rows. We'll see how that works. Happy sewing!
Sandcastles is looking just great! Frustrating that they don't measure quite right - I seem to have that happen pretty often, too. But I agree that as long as they are consistent with each other, everything will work out just right! :)
I try to pull out my smallest block and trim that first, to figure out if it's going to be one of those "3/8" kind of trimming marathons. But I usually forget and merrily trim to the recommended size then get down to a batch that just won't make it. Argh. Gosh, your sandcastles looks so fab all together, even just pinned to air. That's a clever trick, by the way :)
Good for you for adapting on the fly to the needed size for your sandcastle blocks. They look awesome together!
I can so relate to running out of design wall to audition block placement. Yup, pinning on air - been there, done that. Meanwhile, your blocks look great all together. And well done on ignoring the imaginary correct size. I must remember that for the future. ;-)
You did an excellent job! I so love your Sandcastle. No one will notice that the blocks are shorter than they should be when passing by on a galloping horse. (is that how it goes? Whatever, you know what I mean.) It looks like a monster of a quilt though. How huge is it? Enjoy the game of good neighbouring each block. ;^)
Wow, your sand castle is quite impressive. I love the bright colors of the castle and how your windows sparkle. But I missed what you are planning for your moat? Maybe four rows of HSTs to represent the dragons teeth or ?
Sand Castles looks fantastic!
Enforced time at home sure boosts our productivity. Good job getting the Sand Castles trimmed and on the wall. What fun you will have rearranging them. It always amazes me how much a quilt improves with a bit of rearranging. You also chosen good fabrics for the back of your temperature quilt. Stay safe.
You are being good and productive in your enforced time out away from other people! So proud of you, keep on keeping on!
I've had trouble with consistent block size on every BH quilt I've done (well, to be honest, not just on BH quilts). The more tiny pieces in a block, the more margin for error. Now that I'm home from 10 weeks away, and faced with Cuomo's insistence that I never leave my house, I'm going attempt to figure out where I left off with Frolic.
Pat
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