The Fog is Lifting

Slowly.  But now I seem to have ADD.  I put Old Town in time-out for a while and turned my attention to the Asian 4-patches that I've been mindlessly making.  As I worked on them I thought about how I might use them.  I pulled a book of block designs off the shelf, looking for something that used 4-patches and found a block that would be easy to make.  All I needed was an acceptable alternate fabric for two solid squares.  This lovely large-scale print would be perfect!

The block will measure 8" finished so I set about planning a 7 x 9 block layout.  I won't go into detail, but I failed to take into account that my block has two 4-patches and two squares in it so when I counted squares in my sketch I counted only 32 4-patches.  Yep, 32 4-Ps short!  That was about two more days of work.  I had hoped to use the print for the alternate blocks but don't have enough after making 32 more half blocks.  In the meantime, I have put them up on the design wall and will mull over the arrangement while I wait for the new alternate block fabric to arrive.

That's half the blocks.  I plan to relocate those blue blocks to the center of the quilt as they are the only bright color.  Apologies for my awful photos.  The lighting in the bed/sewing room is not the best and my hands aren't the steadiest.

In the meantime, I got to thinking about the annual Stay at Home Round Robin.  I participated in the initial one during Covid and thoroughly enjoyed the process.  I was trying to decide on my initial block when I came across a partially finished orphan in my UFO boxes.  So that was my task yesterday.  

All that was left to do were those blankety-blank inset seams.  It will finish at 14".  I wanted something that wouldn't have HSTs or 4-Ps in it because they are often in the rounds that will be announced in the coming weeks.  I'm excited to see what's next.

Go to Quilting Gail for more information.  It's not too late to join in!

Brain Fog

Do you ever have days when the creative juices are just not in synch with the real world?  I've had a week of those days!

When the final solution for the Old Town Mystery was released last Friday, I matched up pieces for several blocks and managed to get one block finished.  

On Saturday I made a bunch of small units and added three more blocks to the wall.  Sunday I cobbled together a fifth block, all the while looking at the design wall, trying to come up with an alternate plan for the sashing that does not require the tiny flying geese.  

While I like the secondary pattern Bonnie's sashing makes, I'm not enough in love with my blocks to make the effort to make the tiny geese.  I came up with an interesting option but it would require some un-sewing of my finished blocks.  I looked and thought, and thought and looked.

When the creative ju-ju didn't kick in, I finally decided that a clear work table might help.  Which only led to remorse over unfinished projects and plans for new projects with the bits of detritus that I took off the table.  

On Monday I went to the computer and made a spreadsheet to track my progress on 30+ UFOs.  I predict some of them will become placemats or potholders.  One of the piles on my table included cutoffs from several strip sets that I think were made for borders on a quilt many years back.  So I cut them to 6.5" squares which I assembled into a little 24" square.

With schools closed on Tuesday due to threatening weather, there was no Devo and Sew.  So I pretended I was sewing with the group and managed to add borders to a little baby quilt and made the binding. 

Then I decided to tackle a One Block Wonder that I cut and apparently planned several years ago.  After several attempts to get a couple of rows together, I gave up in frustration.  It really needs to go back up on the wall for me to understand what I was intending.

I muddled through Thursday, trying to make a plan, trying to clear off my table, thinking of what I could do with this or that.  The big bin of Asian fabrics was still under the table along with the little box of 2.5" squares.  Hmm.  I started making 4-patches with no plan in mind.  Check back tomorrow to see what I came up with.  Hopefully it will be a whole top by the end of the day and then I can send that bin back to the basement!

BTW, I managed to change a setting in my new phone which allows the computer to recognize the source of my photos.  Don't ask me how I did it!

Update

 All is well here -- at least until the snow flies on Friday -- and I've been busy in the sewing room with minimal success.  I have not posted anything lately because my computer does not recognize the photos from my new i-16 phone.    Hoping to find a solution today.

One and Done?

As I suspected, Bonnie Hunter released the Final Solution for the Old Town Mystery this morning.  I had already set aside most of the day to work on the project.  Everything was neatly organized and ready to go.

I first laid out the various pieces to check my colors before I began assembly and I was pleased with what I saw so I began to sew as I would normally do, row-by-row.  Not the best plan.  After about an hour of this and that, I finally decided to look at Bonnie's instructions to make the corner units.  Ah-ha! All the corner units are identical! Just rotated in the block.  So instead of rows I went to unit construction.  Much better.  

Apparently I didn't follow all of Bonnie's instructions about pressing as I had a devil of a time getting corners to meet and points to be pointy.  LOTS of seams, lots of lumps.  The jury is still out.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday week.  It's time to get back to the grind -- sewing AND exercising.  On the sewing front, I have thrown in the towel on Clues 7 and 7.5.  I simply cannot make those little 1-1/2" x 2-1/2" flying geese with any kind of accuracy!

So I'm going to see how they will be used in the final solution and then try another method for making them if I see they are essential to the design.  

I got a good start on Clue 8 yesterday, cutting most of what I need to make one-half the blocks.  

I need to look for a little more variety in my fabrics.  I may ask my quilting buddy/neighbor to shop my stash for me!

There is a neighborhood Hair of the Dog celebration this afternoon so I don't expect to get much sewing done today.

Thinking ahead for the new year, DH and I are considering a driving trip to the Northeast this summer (New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts) to catch up with family.  So if any of my readers are on our route and want to hook up, or if you can suggest quilt shops to visit, I'd love to hear from you.

Cuteness Overload

I hope all my readers had a salubrious Christmas.  We spent Christmas Eve with the Nashville family and the Brooklyn grands.  The almost 4-YO great-grand waited patiently for her turn to open a gift from Gigi and Great-Grandpa.

Her mother is an incredibly-talented crafter who usually works with paper.  Take a look at these sweet felt ornaments she made for me.  The smiles make me giggle.

She taught herself to embroider making them.  Talk about talent!  They look so cute on my little tree that will probably move to my sewing nook after Christmas.  

Best Wishes to all for a Happy New Year!

Taking a Hiatus

In spite of my best intentions to stay up with Bonnie's mystery, holiday preparations have taken precedence this week.  At least I made a decision to proceed with my substitute color for her coral.  I wasn't sure how purple would look next to turquoise so I made one unit.  I opted to use a light turquoise and I think it works!

I tried to imagine how the square-in-a-square would be used -- my guess -- ant it's not too bad!

Though I will pay more attention to the shades of purple that might go into the same block next time.  I did manage to make six units before I had to wrap gifts and clean up the house for company coming.

I have some last-minute stitches to make on some gifts and packing to do before we head to Nashville to celebrate with the great-grand's family.  In case I'm not able to get back on line amidst the hustle and bustle, I'll take this opportunity to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas!