shhhh! don't tell my dad!

The last month of so of 2019, I didn't sew much.  Or at least it didn't feel like it.  With the holidays and extra work shifts and all sorts of stuff going on, I just wasn't in the mood.  But with those things all gone and a jump start from retreat, I'm ready to get going!

Remember the Sasquatch pattern I purchased while on retreat?

(This is definitely a better look at that pattern - you can see the Sasquatch!)

I decided that I would start on this right away.  I wanted to make this for my dad for Christmas.  (Shhh!  It's a secret!)  I've got plenty of time, but for whatever reason, this had more draw than the purple and grey kit.  Or maybe I forgot about the kit for a minute.  While this squirrel chased me!

Off  to buy some fabric because the background claims to need something like 4 yards.  Seems excessive, but I don't have that much of anything in my stash (other than solid white - boring!), so off I go!

Some other fabrics may have jumped into my cart.  Notably that bottom fabric.  It will be the back and truly, it was the LAST fabric I chose!  Quite a nice match (though I notice now you can't see the background very well...you'll see it soon enough) and I knew I could raid my stash for a few more greens to make those trees more interesting.  (I'm not totally into scrappy, but feel that a Sasquatch would prefer to live in a forest of mixed conifers for maximum foraging and security.)

The three at the very center are the purchased fabrics.  All the others were one iteration of stash-pulling.  Some got cut because there just wasn't enough.  Some were too dark.  Or too green.  Or too busy.  Or something.  A few came back because it turns out you need a decent sized chunk of fabric for a single tree.  And I only had to piece one small section of one fabric!  About three of the trees will be the last of their kind, though.  I would cheer for stash reduction, but, well...there are three new fabrics going in...  Stash turnover!!!!!

Time to dig in!  Lots of pieces, so no sense in procrastinating.  First I cut the backgrounds.  And took no photos.

Then, let's do Sasquatch next.  Just one of him and a good way to dip my toes into the water on this pattern.  (Though Elizabeth writes amazingly detailed and accurate patterns, so I had no real worries other than the 378 pieces it would take to construct just 14 trees.  But we'll talk about that later.)

Holy cow!  But thanks to my diligence at making those labels, this went really fast.  (To be honest, though, I groaned inwardly at having to make those labels.  I didn't want to do it, but knew I needed to.  And current me thanked earlier me for doing such an arduous task.)

I think the cutting took longer than the sewing?

And by this point, Freddie was absolutely WORN OUT from all the "helping"...

(I love him so much.)

Next up was cutting into those greens.  Some of them had to be washed (not all of my stash has been prewashed - some of it predates my decision to do that, so sometimes you have to do a quick load of laundry for a scrappy quilt...), but I managed to plan far enough ahead that while Sasquatch was being constructed, they were washing and drying.  Just need to iron them and off we go!

And I took no photos.  I was on a mission.  You see, after mathing, I discovered (very late in the construction process, thankfully) that there were 378 pieces in those trees.  And though I didn't know how many pieces, I knew there were a lot.  And a lot of "lost corners" to construct them.  I cringed at the idea of drawing all those lines.

But wait!

Purchased at a quilt retreat in 2000 to use for the mystery quilt I made there, I have an Angler 2!  (And have recently seen advertisements for a "new" version.  Wonder if it's really new or if folks have just rediscovered this gem?)  It's kind of a pain to get set up.  Okay, it's really not.  But that's my story for why I don't use it more often.  In this case?  Worth the trouble!

Finally, about an hour ago, I decided to take a photo...

Poorly lit but this is my favorite fabric.  It looks so pine tree-y.  I wasn't sure in the store, seeing it all as one big piece on the bolt, but I am so happy I got it.  I want it in all the colors now.  (Uh oh...)

And then, not too long ago, I had them all done!

14 whole trees and one Sasquatch!

I still have the dreaded long seams of top construction, but this is making me happy.  I started it Friday and this is only Monday!  I didn't have to work this weekend, which helped.  And the hubby, after being gone a few days for work, didn't have a huge desire to go anywhere (the "ice storm" on Saturday helped curb our desire to go anywhere also - it wasn't nearly as nasty as predicted, so I'm only slightly sarcastic with those quotes above...), so he watched the football playoff games and I sewed.  (And made a pot of chili and some brownies and stuff.)

There is still almost a whole week before the next Project Quilting prompt comes out and I hope to have this top completed by then.  Just in case I do, I have my next project picked out...

My turquoise stash of fabrics is running over into purples.  (To be fair, blue and turquoise are mixed together, but after trying to find a true blue in there that was large enough to make four 7's for the PQ project, I can tell you turquoise is winning that battle by a landslide!)  So I think this will be my January charity project, done in turquoises and white.  Scrappy-ish.  The pattern looks fairly simple, just the layout is kinda tricky.  But I can do it!  (It'll be fine.)

And while you wait for my next post (I know you all are waiting...probably just to see the cats...), check out the Project Quilting entries!  There is no voting this year, sadly, but there are still some pretty cool creations.

Also, this old post might entertain you all and help explain some of the Sasquatch fascination in my family...and the friend blamed my mom for the whole thing!  Guess he hasn't met me well enough yet?

But there is also the story of Grampa Squatch.  My dad decided, about 20 years ago, to grow a beard.  Now, he's grown these on and off through my childhood, so it was just my dad being dad.  Nothing odd.  But my mom hated it.  HATED it.  So we tried to get my niece, then about 2, to call him "Grampa Squatch."  Because it would be hilarious.  She wouldn't do it.  I think it scared her a little because all the other guys she knew were clean-shaven.  He shaved it off a while later, perhaps because of the teasing (but had to wait a while so it didn't seem like we helped make that choice) or perhaps because he tired of it.  He hasn't grown one back since, though.  But I still remember.

And with that, I'm off to read some!

Happy quilting!

Katie