Taking Over the Living Room

Today seemed like a good day to take over the living room.  Everyone but me and one of my daughters will be gone for the majority of the day.  The thing is, I didn't realize how much time this whole process would take!  First off, I needed to cut my sashing squares down to the appropriate size.

Cutting my sashing squares down to 4".

Then for the hard part--Layout.  Wowsers, did it take me a long time before I decided to call it good!  So much contemplation.  Squinting.  Rearranging of blocks.  Flip flopping on minute points.  The fact is, I'm way out on a limb from my comfort zone.  This arrangement of colors and prints is very, very new to me.

Working on the layout....

I always feel like the layout part of putting together a quilt top needs plenty of time.   It's not that I'm a perfectionist or anything close to that particular description.  It's just that in too many cases, I sew my entire quilt top together and then suddenly realize that I put two blocks side by side that have the exact same fabrics!  How can that possibly happen?  And balance is so essential too.  You can't hardly spend too much time on that.  Then I moved on to a new (to me) idea.

Draw a line down the center, then sew an 1/8"
on each side to stabilize block before cutting.

I wanted to try out this neat little trick I read in the Fon's & Porter magazine about stabilizing setting and corner blocks created from pieced blocks.  It takes a bit of extra time, but let me tell you--it works beautifully!  Very much worth the extra time expended.

Cut block on the line directly down the center.

This block was the only block that had any stretching whatsoever and I think it's because of the woven fabric.  Otherwise?  All the fabrics cooperated just like intended.  Yes!

Setting Triangles are not ready to be sewn onto rows.

You know how much blocks and setting triangles get handled in the process of sewing rows together, not to mention what happens when you get to the quilting stage.  I am in LOVE with this idea for working with pieced blocks.  Such a great idea.  Where has this technique been all my life?

Corner triangles need to be stabilized from both directions.

It's all fairly self-explanatory once you realize the point of the entire process.....

Cut like before and then turn and cut triangle in half again
for corner triangles that won't stretch when you sew.

Nobody is insinuating that anybody reading through this excersise is stupid.  It just seems good to have lots of pictures for any and all interested.  Of course, I may be the last surviving quilter to NOT about this neat little trick.

All the setting/corner triangles are stabilized and ready to
be sewn together with the rest of the sashing and blocks!

I was in the process of trying to sew all my rows together before the hoardes return, but decided it was a good time to take a break and check out the blogging world.  You can also call it procrastination if you like.*wink

I just love getting the mail on days like today!

Oh yes!  I almost forgot. These little goodies arrived today!  Diane Knott from Butterfly Threads Quilting very generously sent these patterns to me to try out whenever I find some extra time!  The little Tumbler pattern is especially intriguing to me of late since I've been working on my little bow-tie quilt.  So much going on, but of course I always think I can do a little more.....