WIP Wednesday #3

I have been very focused this week, working soley on Madelyn's big bed quilt.  Considering I can only find an hour a day to sew during the week, I am proud of myself for sticking with it, and reaching that 74 block target!  When I pulled it out of the cupboard a few weeks ago there were 20 blocks, already joined into rows to make a cot quilt. The prospect of making enough to turn it into a single bed quilt was daunting since I haven't done anything this big since Austin's big bed quilt (which now could do with updating!),

 

 

 

I had to unpick the previously joined rows, to spread some of the old fabrics around the quilt.  Some of the blocks were made from scraps, with 2-3 blocks having the same fabric, all concentrated in the bits I had already pieced together.  I thought I could get away with unpicking only a few to spread, but I didn't like my sequence of colours as I had the cream square followed by a white square and the reds and browns together.  I don't do random very well!  As it was I spent an hour or so agonising over the placement of the blocks.  I then had to lock the kids out of the lounge room since Sunday night, so that I could keep my blocks where I wanted them.

 

The photo above shows how I managed to not go crazy keeping my blocks in the right places and orientation while I sewed.  I bought these little sticky dots so that Madelyn's birthday party gurests could make ladybug hats.  They didn't have bl;ack, so I bought white, and gave the kids some textas to colour them whatever colour they liked - some even had rainbow spots!  I had stacks left, so left the box on the kids' craft table.  Then suddenly I had an epihany!  I wrote the row number and the block number (eg R3/2) on each dot, and knew that when I stitched the blocks together the letters all had to be in the same orientation.  It worked wonders!  Although I did still have to become good friends with the unpicker for the odd one that refused to line up with the seams on the adjacent block.

 

Not long to go now.  I was hoping to get the borders on tonight but I had to stop, blog and sleep!  All the blocks are joined though (thank goodness - it wasn't the kids, but Lewis, my English Mastiff that sprawled across the quilt and messed a few up).  Tomorrow,  I can stitch on the double border of the perfect "almost solid" shade to match the blocks.  Yep - that stash count went up again...  Border fabric will do that to you!