a top, a new start and more!

Last week I left you with pieces cut for the second Valle Crucis quilt.  I got busy and sewed up another 192 (not 196 as I may have reported previously) half square triangles.  Such a drag, and the trimming takes For. Ever.  But I decided to pop a movie in and set up a trimming station to work while I watched.

This guy is much more colorful than the other one, though the colors are a bit washed out here.  I struggled to get a good photo, what with all the windows downstairs.  (Really not a bad thing most of the time!)

It took more than the movie to get them all done, but I kept cutting after it ended, determined to finish.  My wrist was hurting and I hoped that would not last.  (It didn't.)  But I wanted to get on with this quilt.

The next part was fun - matching up fabrics for blocks.  Having three colors, I wanted to make sure things were mixed up well and then I placed all the pieces in stacks so I could chain-sew easily.  And chain-sew I did!

None of these photos seem to be doing much good with all of the colors, but I promise a good one is coming...

Once these were done, I figured I would just go ahead and lay them out.  Since the black is shedding horribly and the carpet in my sewing room is off-white and I had JUST run the vacuum, I decided to use the design floor downstairs - where the carpet is blue-ish.  It will show less.

Toby decided he needed to take a bath.  In the middle of things.  He wasn't helping as much as some of the other cats like to do, he was just angry with me for having excluded him in the process for a while.  (He is not allowed in the sewing room, as that is where Gabby hangs out during the day - door closed to keep him from stalking and attacking her.  Still.)

But this photo does a very good job of catching the actual colors.  So I guess he knew what he was doing all along?

Eventually I did get all of the blocks placed and a photo, though I had to snap quick because it seemed all the boys wanted to help at that point...

Things look random enough here, though it seems the more colors and fabrics you add, the harder random gets.  It makes no sense in my head, but seems to play out that way every time.  Or maybe I'm just not good at random?

Anyways, back up to the sewing room for sashing and a border and then I had another top!

The sunshine is making a spot near the bottom here, but even with a poor color quality, you can see it is a whole top and that's what I'm going for.

Next up will be to quilt these two, but I need to figure out backs first.  Soon.  The timeline on this quilt along isn't hugely long, but that's okay.  I'm only about 3 weeks ahead...

While I was trimming the half square triangles, Finn kept himself entertained...

...somehow he got the pumpkin to flip itself over, off the cardboard scratcher.  It's not attached and he is a clumsy oaf (a cute, loveable one), but I looked over because I heard not-right scratching noises.  He just looked at me like "oh, hi!" and went back to whatever he was doing.  I put it back together when he was done, but I expect this to continue if he can remember how.

Since these two are tops, I won the right to start something else new!  The School Bus quilt!  The fabric had been purchased, washed and folded neatly and was just waiting for me.  So Friday, I started cutting.

And promptly realized my background (black) fabric is directional.  I mean, I knew it was, but didn't really think about it in the store.  So I stopped cutting and waited until I had more time to decide if I want to worry about it, and if I do, figure out new cutting instructions to make sure it all works out nicely.

Today was the day!  I decided to go with cutting fussily and making everything go one direction.  I also decided the 6x8 layout, with two different blocks, meaning the four corners did not all have the same block, was going to bug me, so I'm going to do a 7x7 layout, meaning only one more block, but allowing it to be symmetrical.

So I cut.  The cutting didn't seem to take long, so I'm hoping I didn't miss anything.  I didn't cut the sashing and borders yet, as those will also need some attention to direction detail, and I just wanted to get going on sewing!

But I had to groan when I saw this "quick guide" page in the book that told me number of units and blocks and whatnot.  (I didn't find it entirely useful, but I'm sure some do.)  This is part of that image:

Remember how many half square triangles are in the Valle Crucis quilt?  And I made two of those.  Ugh.  Not ANOTHER one!

This is as far as I got today.  I may go back to sewing after I'm done blogging, or not.  I have a few other chores I probably should do and since the hubby is at a football game for a bit longer, I should probably make the best of my time.  Though doing what is a good question - sewing by myself is just as good as ignoring him for chores, right?  (But with chores, I don't have any critics around...!)

I'm still sewing away on cat hammocks, making three every day I'm not at work as a start up to my sewing day.  It's kinda like a warmup to a work out where I think about what I'll be doing next.  Today it was pondering the directional nature of my background fabric and how I wanted to handle it.

Sometimes I get to play thread chicken...

...and sometimes I win!

(I actually have another, larger, spool of the same color (because apparently I buy thread without even realizing what I have?), so it wasn't a big deal, but it was nice to not have to stop in the middle somewhere.

(And I'm realizing my machine is a bit dusty, so I guess I need to do something about that...but anyone who sews a lot knows how this happens very quickly, so don't think I'm a bad housekeeper.  I mean, I might not be all that great, but don't judge me on this alone!)

I think I have enough of the ironing board covers for two more hammocks, which works out perfectly, as I'll get those done tomorrow and have them all finished to meet up with my volunteer on Tuesday - her coming in to my work while I'm there has been working out nicely.

But I have a bunch of D-shaped ends from the covers that I could probably get 10" or 12" squares out of, so I'm debating if I should make some crate mats with those.  I'll chat with my volunteer about sizes and needs and go from there.  If it's going to be a waste of my time, I'll skip it.

Time to get some chores done so I can continue to play.

Happy quilting,

Katie