The design roll

Most of the time, when I make a scrappy quilt, I just let things happen as they will.  Sometimes that means the quilt isn't "even" as in there might be a light spot or a dark area or a place where there's too much green.  The easiest way to deal with that is a design wall, which I don't have.  I have a design floor.  But, in my studio, floor is a limited quantity and I can't really lay a quilt out and just leave it there (even though I used to do that all the time).    And, while I've done it before, I don't want to lay one out in the living room and leave it there for as long as it takes to piece. 

So, I needed a new solution. 

My solution was a plastic tablecloth with a flannel back and a pool noodle.  I laid the table cloth out and laid the quilt pieces on it.  I was able to spread my fabrics out.  I went into this quilt not quite sure how many pieces I needed.  So, as I laid it out, I was continuing to cut and add pieces.  I could have let all those new pieces go into the same area, or I could integrate them into the quilt.  That meant I needed the whole thing laid out. 

Anyway, when I got done on Saturday, I rolled it up.  And, Sunday morning, when I wanted to work on it again, I unrolled it.  And, it unrolled perfectly. 

Nothing stuck to the plastic side of the table cloth. 

The blue and yellow sub units are pieced with their diagonal lines.  But, the quilt is still all in 2.5x6.5" strips that need to be pieced into blocks, then rows, then a quilt top. 

Then, I took the roll into the sewing room and am piecing it one row at a time.  That way, it's near the machine and I can sew a couple blocks at a time. 

While I was in the stash, looking for dark blues, I found the perfect back.  It's a dark-ish blue with yellow stars and moons.  It's not enough, but then I found some dark gold fabric with stars on it, too.  So, I'm pretty sure this one is moving forward at a rapid pace.  Three rows are pieced so far. 

The DWR quilt is nearly finished.  Woo-hoo! 

It took most of Saturday morning, but I got those feathers in all the way around.  I still have some safety pins marking errors that need correcting.  Somehow, I snipped a thread in one block and there's one line, about 5 feet where there was no top tension in the thread...how does that even happen?  I've decided not to quilt anything in the rings, but those brown squares need to be outlined to give it the dimension I'm looking for.  But, once those last few steps are done, I'll be ready to bind.  Unfortunately, now I get the true joy of trying to color match that olive fabric for a binding.  I used all of I had except some scraps and a strip about 6x48", not enough to make a binding.  And, I bought all there was on the bolt, so there's no more of that available.  I'll cut the extra fabric away so that feathered border is scalloped, so it's going to take a LOT of binding.  I've never done a scalloped edge, so it's a good thing there are tutorials on the internet for it. 

We had a good weekend.  It was HOT.  I quilted.  And, cleaned.  I managed to find a couple hours for yard work yesterday morning, but it was all pulling out dead leaves and tying up things that have gotten huge.  We had a lot of good rain last week, so things just went nuts.  And, I cut some limbs a few weeks ago. so now there's balancing the sunlight again and moving flower pots around so nothing gets too much or too little sun.  But, that's the good thing about gardening and quilting.  There's always something to do.

Work is strange.  After all those weeks of being too busy, now there's not so much to do.  It's a good reprieve.  But, I don't want it to last too long.  It does make the days pass slower. 

Everybody have a great Monday!!  It's the start of a new week. 

Lane