Three layers deep

Well, not all days are this productive - especially lately.  But after a few mis-starts, I managed to get a few things accomplished.

My Frolic (Bonnie Hunter's 2019 Winter Mystery) was so close to the finish line that I could hear its little footsteps.  I zipped through the last HSTs for the borders and stitched them into nice long strings.

There was an oops, of course, because there's always an oops.

I managed to sew the border strips together wrong way round.  Luckily I'd only done one set before seeing my error.

There.  That's better.

Then it was time for the Math Meltdown.  I'd been willfully denying that there was going to be a problem with those borders.  I'd made my quilt smaller than Bonnie's, so her border lengths were going to be different from mine.  The part that I was really trying not to think about was that I knew from my measuring for that yellow stop border that my quilt now measured an odd number.  Those HSTs finish with an even number.  

I started doing all kinds of mental gymnastics thinking about adding another HST to each border, then adding a second (extremely narrow) stop border to fill the gap.  Multiply this, add that, subtract the other.

Meanwhile, the sensible part of my brain (I do have one - it's usually hiding waaaaaaaay in the back) was trying to get my attention.  

"Go away, I'm thinking," I told Sensible, and returned to trying to remember if I'd allowed for ALL the seam allowances.  Sensible wasn't having any of that, thank you very much, and proceeded to start squawking really loudly.

"What?!?" I said grumpily.

"Not bigger.  Smaller.  Measure and think."

The stop border measured 57".  My HST border measured 56.5".

Oh.

Duh.

Nevermind.

The borders practically sewed themselves on.

I pinned it to the design wall right over top of Unity, which I finished a couple of weeks ago and hadn't put away yet.  (I'm using it to remind myself that I really have gotten something accomplished in this Time of Weird.)

So since I was on such a roll of success, I grabbed Sand Castles and finished the last two seams on that one.

I added it to the design wall, too.

So that's two tops done today, which I'm pretty sure is a Personal Best.

And I've got tops three layers deep on the design wall.

And it looks to me like I can start a few new projects with an absolutely clear conscience...

Another day, another doodad

Our new color for the RSC is blue - the lights and the brights.

I had some leftover blue triangles sitting right on my cutting mat, thanks to Bonnie Hunter's new SAH mystery.  I grabbed some orange triangles to set them off (because nothing sets off blue quite so well as orange) (actually nothing sets off any color quite so well as orange) and there's the first April Doodad.

Speaking of Bonnie's Unity, here's the center of the medallion on my design wall, complete with 1.5" neutral border.

You'll notice the design wall has a Conspicuous Lack of Sand Castles.

That's because they're currently partially webbed and heaped all over my chair and ironing board.

Seven columns down and one to go!  Then I can start sewing the rows together.  Getting closer!


Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.  Come admire the rainbows!

Well of course I'm doing the new Bonnie Hunter mystery

I hesitated for about two minutes before jumping into this one.  It's a medallion quilt and I love medallion quilts.  And I couldn't possibly miss a chance to start another quilt, could I?

Yesterday's progress -

bits made and laid out for a photo op.

Then today I got them assembled.

After I got it together, I noticed two different places where identical reds were too close together, but I decided it didn't bug me enough to make me rip it out and re-position them.  So be it.  If I know my Bonnie Hunter quilts, this thing will be big enough and busy enough that it can't possibly matter.

Today's task was also to start the webbing of the Sand Castles.

Three columns down, five to go.

And speaking of Sand Castles, I had one of those "well, duh" moments while trying to decide what should go in the empty Sand Castle bin.

How about the second Sand Castle - the one in reds with black and white?  The one I've already started making?

I don't even have to change the label.

Still fiddling with sand castles

I've got the yellows a little better than they were, but still need to fuss some more arranging these blocks.  (They're showing up way brighter in the photos than they are in real life.)  There's no reason to rush this process, so I'll just keep playing with blocks until I get tired of it, then I'll say 'fiddlesticks!' (or words to that effect) and just sew them together.

Though now I've got an empty bin.

Whatever shall I do?


Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday with my Sand Castles from last year's RSC, and with Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  Come join the fun!

My Sand Castle runneth over

I have exceeded design wall capacity...

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?)

Building Castles in the Air

Or rather, building castles in the sand.  In between the endless triangles for the Frolic borders,

I managed to make the final push for Sand Castles.

Allow me to introduce Block 63 and Block 64:

Yay!  The gang's all here!

I've started squaring up the blocks (the triangle corners are made oversized to allow for any wonkiness in the stringiness) and as soon as my temperature quilt is off the design wall, I'll be starting the grand dithering process of their final arrangement.

And speaking of the temperature quilt, I have a plan:

Notice the extensive calculations and attention to detail!  This is obviously going to work!  (Because we all know my plans always work, right?)  (Wish me luck!)

Linking with Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  Come see all the scrappy goodness!

What do you mean, December is almost half over???

Somehow writing posts in my head doesn't exactly equate to posts being posted on the actual blog.  Argh.  Though I guess it's just as well that my computer isn't reading my mind, come to think of it...

When last I typed at ya, my design wall looked like this -

Well, that was just a bit too chaotic, even for me, so when I finished piecing November's Goosey Temps column, I pulled the summer's columns and moved October and November to the left as I started December.  This gave me more room for the last Sand Castles as I build them.

And here's a good thing that I've been doing right along -

I write the month in the seam allowance of the top goose, so I don't get the months confused when I assemble the quilt.  THAT's a boo-boo I saw coming from a mile away.

And since it's Bonnie Hunter Mystery Time, I've been squeezing in a little bit of Frolic here and there.
Here's the start of Clues 1 and 2,

which left my cutting table looking like this -

and here's the first HST stacks for Clue 3 which just dropped this morning.

I'm basically just getting a few of each clue done, just to keep my hand in, as I pursue other sewing projects.  (Mostly of the gifty variety, since I hear there's a major holiday coming up soon.)  (Don't tell me how many days I have left la la la I can't hear you...)  When priorities allow, I'll catch up with the frolicking.

In the meantime, I'm linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday (because I'm bound to finish those Sand Castles soon, no really)  and with Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  I'm even going to post a photo or two to Instagram for the Bonnie Mystery, though I'm not a fan of Instagram at all at all at all.  (I'm mangofeet_on_ig if you're looking for me.  I've got one photo so far.  sigh)

Geese in the Sand Castles, possibly Frolicking

Or possibly dueling.  Tough call.  The design wall is definitely filling up.

Though I seem to have warped the space/time continuum as far as my Sand Castle blocks are concerned.  I counted them and found I needed four more.  So I made a whole bunch of blocks and counted them all up again, and I still need four more.
I'm starting to suspect the Sand Castle bin has a black hole in the bottom...

Eventually I'll have enough blocks.  Really.  I'm sure of it.

There hasn't been as much time to sew lately, what with Thanksgiving and other holidays crowding the calendar.  I've got a lot of gifty projects going on behind the scenes, but I can't show them off yet.  (If I remember to take pictures, I'll share them after the holidays.)

I did get some fabrics pulled and cut for Frolic.  I've been digging through my scrap bins and gathering strips and generally getting ready for the clues to start dropping.

Clue one appeared yesterday, and though I didn't get any time to sew, I did get some strips ready for assembly.

Tomorrow the stitching will commence!  Four-patches are always full of fun!

Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap.  I'm even going to try this new-fangled Instagram thing and post a pic or two.  Modern times, eh?

Well now, here's a surprise

That chunk of darker red solid finally turned up and I hung it up on the bottom half of the design wall to see which red I liked better.

I had really thought that I was going to like the dark better, but now I'm not so sure.

Here's a closer look at the dividing line:

and here's the light red:

and here's the dark:

Contrary to what I expected, I think the lighter brighter red is the one I'll go with.  It really lights up the colors of all those highs and lows, while the darker red seems to dull them down.

Here's one more look at the contrast, along with three more Sand Castle blocks I got done yesterday.

So if red is the new neutral, then bright red is the neutralest neutral?  Whichever, I'm going with the bright one.

There.  That dither is over.  Next!


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

Goosey goosies and a pile of sandcastles

Here's a look at my design wall as of the first of November.  I've been plugging away at my Sand Castle blocks for the RSC, catching up with the colors that I got behind on over the summer.

And now that we've started November, I can complete the October column of flying geese for my Goosey Temps quilt.  Though when I hung it up next to September, I noticed a slight problem.  The September column seemed a bit short.  (It's the one next to last on right)

So, I counted up the blocks and came up with only 29.  Not right.  I even ran the old rhyme through my head to double check.  (Thirty days hath September...  yep.  Not right.)

Determined to fix that oversight, I grabbed the pocket calendar that I use to record the temperatures and checked September.

I think I've found the problem.

Did I sleep through September 30th?  It did seem like September was awfully short...



Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday, and with Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  Come check out all the scrappy goodness!

October is for Catchups

(Ketchups?  Naw.)

My Goosey Temps quilt is now caught up through the end of September and I've started laying out triangles to get October rolling.  (That's June, July, and August on the right.)

And I've been puttering away with my Sand Castles - trying to get caught up with the pinks and blues that I got behind on.

 A lovely interruption to all this diligence was the Quilter's Guild show that took place last weekend.  My sister-in-law called to see if I'd even heard it was happening (I hadn't) and if I had any plans to go see it (I didn't), so we met up an hour later and headed on up.  (Life is short.  Get in the car and go look at quilts whenever the opportunity is offered.)

I dutifully brought my camera, then dutifully neglected to take many pictures, despite the fact that the show was loaded with gorgeous work.  Here's one of my very favorites, which was one of the first ones I saw going in, before camnesia set in.

Now you may be thinking, "yeah yeah, applique, how nice", but here's another picture that will give you an idea of the scale of this quilt.

The camera is about 6" from the quilt, and my fingers are hovering about 2" above the surface.  Those little grapey dots?  They're about 1/8" in diameter.  And needle-turned.  One at a time by the hundreds.  I wouldn't have even thought it possible.  I still don't even think it's possible and I saw it with my own eyes.

Another quilt I loved was this framed four-patch made with aboriginal fabrics.  The picture doesn't do justice to all the bright happy colors.

And this one caught my eye, with even more four-patches.  (I admit I'm a total sucker for anything four-patchy!)

I almost didn't get that picture, though.  As I was backing up to get more of it into the shot, I kept  watch in my peripheral vision for the quilts behind me, but wasn't thinking about the wooden bases that stuck out near the floor.

Ooops!  As I floundered for balance, I had a sudden vision of causing a domino-style disaster of all those quilt racks...





Luckily, I'm not actually THAT clumsy...


Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday (even though it's Sunday - oops again!) and with Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  Come see all the colorful fun!

Seriously, I should know myself better than that...

When I pulled out the Sand Castle bin to put away the purple blocks I made over the weekend, guess what I found?

Yep, right on top.  Why on earth would I have thought orange had slipped past me?

So I made three more purples to finish off the month of September,

and while I was at it, I made another orange one just for luck.

Now to catch up with the blues and pink, and decide what I'm going to be doing for October. (Yikes!  It starts tomorrow!)  I've heard rumors of using dark neutrals, etc, but I'm thinking it might be a good time to throw in some multicolor blocks.  I have a stack of Kaffe fat quarters that are starting to whisper my name...

A summer's worth of geese all aflutter

Here's my design wall, after a concerted effort to do some catching up.

That's a whole summer of geese - May through August - for my temperature quilt, all done up and sassy.  There are even three geese for the first three days of September at upper right.

I've got a tray full of pieces cut out for the missing RSC summer colors,

and I managed to get a few blocks sewn up as far as the lozenge section.  They'll just need their scrappy triangles sewn onto the corners to be ready to join the other blocks in their plastic tub.

But wait - what happens if I pull back a little on that last photo?

What are all those black on white prints doing on my cutting table?

Shhhh...  Don't tell anyone...  I've started another project.

Meet Sand Castles II - in black, white, gray, and red - for my grandson.  (His favorite color scheme)

Because of course I want to make TWO Sand Castle quilts...


Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  I've been missing those linkups!