I was really surprised yesterday how many people liked layout #2. After looking at the photos several times yesterday I know I need to make 2 quilts with 35 blocks each, 50" x 70". Layout #1 is one that I will make for sure. I love that layout. I'm thinking that layout #2 might be kind of neat with only 3 or 5 blocks turned so I'll play with that. I think I'll make layout #3 in the future with different color blocks.
Since I've made the decision that I will make two quilts, I need more blocks. I spent 2 hours cutting strips into 11" lengths. Then I timed how long it took to make 6 blocks. It came to 22 minutes for each block from cutting the strips to sewing the strips, pressing and trimming to the final block size. There are between 8 and 11 seams in each block. So for the 48 blocks I have sewn so far I have 17.5 hours invested, and I'm a fast sewer. When you look at a quilt with a simple pattern it isn't always obvious that it is labor intensive. I have 22 more blocks to sew so that will be about another 8 hours. Then there is the designing time. Too much math? Too much information?
