Remember this one? I just had 2 seams left to sew so I finally did it yesterday. Now I have the big job of pressing the seams with all of the bumps and lumps caused by the ends of the seams in the blocks.
The Comcast guy was here yesterday at 10:07 a.m. and gone by 10:35 and I have a new modem. I think my Internet is faster now, but maybe it's just my imagination. My desktop computer is the same age as the old modem, almost 8 years old but I have a newer laptop and router so I should be set for a few years.
Here is the latest batch of blocks that I made Tuesday night. Blogger is cooperating today and letting me put my pictures in.
First I took all of the blocks I have made and put them in one big layout. I'm not sure it looks so great.
Next I pulled all of the blocks that are made of the same 2 fabrics plus a couple others. The circles realy show up in this.
The last layout was all of the darker blocks, the most intense of colors and lower contrast between the 2 fabrics in each block. I was surprised the circles showed so much with the low contrast in the blocks.
I have at least 16 more blocks to sew, so I have awhile before I have to decide how to finish them.
I will have 8 or 9 at my dining table this afternoon to give thanks for all good things. Happy Thanksgiving to all of my USA friends.
While cleaning off the kitchen table I found 5 more sets of 4 fabrics ready to cut for the quilt I showed yesterday. I guess it is going to be a row wider and a row longer (64" x 80").
I also sewed 4 more Winding Ways blocks while I watched "Til debt do us part" on CNBC. I like watching the lady get tough with people who are over spending. That show makes you want to draw up a budget and stick to it.
We're supposed to get 2 days in the mid 60's today and Monday. Maybe that means everything will get done outside before winter.
The sun was shining yesterday morning so I got my dusting done in the living/dining room. I only like to do it when it is bright in there. Then I went down to the basement and removed the batik Winding Ways from the design wall. I started sewing the rows together. Nobody told me that making the blocks was the only fun part of this. I took out the seam between the first 2 blocks twice and finally got the points to match. It got a little easier as I worked on it and I have 3 rows sewn together so far. I did take out a few more places where the points weren't meeting to my satisfaction.
Then I sewed 16 more of the hand dyed blocks and put them up on a design wall to see how they look. There is a lot more variety yet to sew. I don't know if they will all go in the same quilt or be 2 smaller ones.
The centers on some of the blocks are off by about a 16th of an inch and I haven't decided whether to take them out and try again or just leave them. I'll have plenty of time to think about it because I have a lot more sewing to do on other projects.
Several times this week I sewed a few blocks for this quilt so I put them up on the double wall that I had taken the Winding Ways off of. Right now it would sew up at 56" x 72" so I may be done with it. I don't think it would look too bad with a narrow border and then a wider one if I decide it needs to be larger.
I was a good girl and spent the major portion of the day cleaning house. Then last night I wanted to watch a movie so I pulled out the box of hand dyed Winding Ways blocks that my friend cut for me on her Studio cutter. There is a lot more variety in the box. This was just the top 4 layers.
Thank you so much for all of the happy birthday wishes and other kind comments. I appreciate the time you take to comment on my blog. I had a wonderful day with family and got to see where my college age granddaughter lives.
Last night I took the last Winding Ways blocks that I created down to the design wall and mixed them into the other blocks. I think this is the final layout but I'll look at it a few more times before I make the final decision.
I had more of the blocks cut for this quilt (scroll down to second quilt) so I sewed them too while I watched CSI Miami. As soon as Winding Ways comes off the big wall this quilt will be put up there.
Today I have another birthday lunch with my friend who is 10 days older than me. Then I think I'm done birthday lunching.
Yes it is that time of the year again. I have decided that my age is "ageless" in case anyone asks. I am going to lunch with my son's family and because it is Sunday, the regular routine of taking supper to my Dad is on the schedule. He doesn't deal well with a break in his routine. He gets confused easily.
I finished the last batch of blocks for the Winding Ways quilt. I didn't put them up on the design wall yet. The one on the bottom right is the lowest contrast in values of all of the blocks. I wanted some with high constrast and some with low contrast. That way there will be a lot of movement to the design in addition to the circles.
This is the latest batch of blocks that I made last night.
I have mixed them into the group but I'll have to do a little more shuffling when I get the last 8 done because they can't all go in the bottom corner. The circles will be more prominent when the blocks are sewn together.
There are 72 that will go in this quilt and then I'll take all of the identical pieces and mix them up and make another 72 scrappy blocks for another quilt. I wonder how well the circles show if the quilt is laying flat (as in bed quilt) or if it needs to be a wallhanging where you always look across at it.
I spent a portion of the day yesterday with friends, fellow mid-arm and long-arm quilters for show and tell and lunch. On the way home I needed a battery for my watch which I had been without for 2 days. It's amazing how many times I looked at my empty wrist. Last night I made 12 more Winding Ways blocks. I just have 16 to go for the first batch of 72.
It was over 70 degrees yesterday and is supposed to be warm today too. I really need to get my bushes trimmed today.
I probably won't sew any more of these blocks until Tuesday again since I have made them more than one day this week already. They are on the double wall now so I can continue when I sew the new ones.
I started these blocks while my students sewed in the finishing class on Thursday. There are 4 blocks with the same fabrics in them. If you zero in on one fabric you will see it twice in the smaller size and twice in the larger size so there are 2 distinctly different blocks within one group of fabrics. This takes a lot of concentration when putting them up on the wall but I find that to be fun where some people would find it frustrating. I showed the pattern for this one here.
