log cabins and re-direction.

It's back to the drawing cutting board.

 

After a strategy session with my quilting sensei, the amazing K, it's infinitely clear that there is a lot of work to be done this week. Or re-done, rather. Well, some just done.

This is a good thing. One, after the uncertainty of last week's border dilemma, I had very little in the way of sewing to be done. (I had plenty of OTHER things to do, but nothing quite so fun, you know?) Two, it means that my final projects will be more to my liking, and that's always important. However! It means re-cutting, re-thinking, and probably most annoying, more of those stinkin' triangles. (We are going to be BFFs by end of year, let me tell you!)

I've learned an incredibly valuable lesson this week, or rather, it's been lingering in the horizon, but I've been choosing to ignore it until now: Do not buy fabric based on memory. Especially not a solid gray when there are several from which to choose. You will choose wrong, buy a bunch, and then you are stuck with it. Worse, you will have already built two blocks with the other gray, which means you will have to re-do those in the new gray because the grays don't match. True story. Worse, they are my HST BOM blocks, so triangles. 

Besides re-doing the first two blocks for the HST BOM, I'm also re-doing my third because the fabrics are bleh. TRIANGLES. (I think my least favorite part of that process is not the mis-aligned triangle corners, but the squaring up. It takes FOREVER.) The original two blocks I made I am planning to transform into pillows because thankfully, they are the perfect size for a completed 12" x 12". The third I'll probably burn. (No, not really. I'll take the seam ripper to it and remove the erring fabrics.) I don't think I would mind re-doing the blocks so much if it wasn't because I made a silly mistake. That's what irks, you know?

On Saturday, I bought fabric (solids!) for my solids quilt. With the fabric washed and pressed and hanging over my quilting chair recliner, I'm getting nervous. Is a solids quilt really a good idea for me? Yes, yes it is. Suck it up, Audrey. But I'm not allowed to cut into that fabric until I've made headway on my other projects, including finishing up the solution for Polka Dot Attack Pinwheel! 

I was planning to forgo the border on the quilt top, leaving the dimensions at 36" x 54". It would be a little skinnier than I prefer, but I couldn't find a border solution that I liked. In fact, I vehemently hated all of them. However, K's recommendation was that I sew up another six blocks and add a fifth vertical row, making the quilt top 45" x 54". Still thin enough to fit my batting, but much wider. However, this means my backing fabric (at 44") is no longer wide enough, so I'll be splitting the fabric and supplementing with something. To be honest, I've really enjoyed some of the backings I've seen lately that have followed this strategy, so I'm eager to try my hand at it. I think I have an idea of what I want to do, but I need to sketch it out, then pull the fabrics and see how it looks.

Yesterday, I was piecing log cabins like a madwoman. I managed to piece all six. Then, while my dear husband gave Banzo his bath, I sewed the row, then added it to the quilt top. I have it all ironed and ready to quilt sandwich, but then I remembered this morning that the backing isn't done. My plans for naptime have shifted, but hopefully I'll still have a happy (and productive) result. 

Finally, I picked up some magenta fabric to use for my glider pillow. Since my other glider pillow isn't going to work, I decided to make one specifically with me in mind, and what better choice than a proud member of the hot pink family? Then, regardless of where the chair finally rests, the colors will make sense because anyone who really knows me understands my hot pink philosophy, and all the rest, well, who cares!