Undecided

It's been slow going on this project. Too many little squares and so much preparation just to get pretty little HSTs. I am super enjoying the process though, which is a big improvement. I typically just like to get to the part where I hold it up for the hubby and say "look what I did!". I'm learning to appreciate each step (even ironing). I finished sewing the white blocks to the patterned blocks. I then spent an afternoon perfectly cutting those squares in to four triangles, like a PB&J sandwich for a kid. See how many triangles I ended up with?!

After seeing how many little triangles I now had to iron open I took a break and went for a moped ride up to Ballard with the hubby for dinner at Ocho. Think delicious tapas. Yum... tapas. Upon my return I set up station at the ironing board and began opening up my little creations.

I think they look great! I love all the colors and variety of the prints. But now comes the hard part and I am completely undecided. What do I do with all these adorable little HSTs?! I need some help deciding.

Here are some options of what I'm thinking:

Option#1: Total Symmetry

This option is super appealing to me because I LOVE symmetry. Especially built out of so many colors. I'd most likely do a color mash-up. Mixing and matching the patterned triangles but having everything point the same direction and line up row for row, column for column. I think it would lend itself well to the patterns and be more fabric focused.

Option #2: Zig-zag

I ADORE this option. I could even break up the zigzags into color coded zigzags. So one zig-zag would be blue, one green, one red, and line them up rainbow order. I like that idea a lot, but I feel like it takes away from the HST look. But it's so cool!

Option #3: Trailing HSTs



This idea may not look much different from Option #1 and it's hard to get the message across with just the squares I laid out, but I'll try. This would be similar to #1 except that I would trail in the HSTs from one corner to the other. I'd start with 1, then 2, then 3 and I'd keep them in color order. So that first HST would be white and I would trail the quilt diagonally increasing in color order. I think this would lend itself to the HST camp while moving your eye from light to dark in color, not necessarily in value.

(le sigh). I just don't know which one to pick!! I would like to start piecing it this weekend but what to do?! I asked the hubby. He looked at me with terror on his face and said, "that's like me asking you which size jet to use in my carburetor". Point taken.

Happy Crafting!

Little Projects in Little Time

A weekend spent sewing! A much needed weekend spent sewing. After spending a week in Boston followed by a hectic work week back in Seattle it was nice to settle in to a weekend at the Bernina. As you can see, I was joined by Neti.

I decided to focus on small projects. Believe it or not after that powerhouse One Block Wonder I was exhausted of quilting. Followed by that Victorian Festive lap quilt, which I have yet to quilt, I just wasn't feeling like another big project. So my focus was small.

A new pillow! Now the other pillows don't match, but I figure I can slowly convert them all over to quilted pillows. At first I think the hubby was skeptical, but with it's added batting plushness this pillow is now his favorite on the couch. I used only scraps from my bins. Yay! I had purchased this beautiful color gradient pink for a baby quilt. His mom was just sure he was a girl. Oops! So I got some new fabric for the baby quilt and had a ton for pillow backing!

I also worked on that vest for a friend. I was told this was his favorite vest of all, and he wears them everyday. As a bartender this is his uniform. I got cocky one night and told him, oh yeah, I can fix that. Well, I hadn't seen it yet.

Did I mention that I have no patience for sewing clothes? See all the holes? Particularly in the underarm area? Yeah, this needed some major work.

At first I only wanted to take out the back and replace it, but once I seam ripped it out I realized that the inner lining to the front panels was all tattered, and I wasn't going to do half of a job, my name was at stake! I ended up replacing the whole back and inner linings. It's basically a brand new vest. I fought this thing the whole way, yet remained patient and calm. It was a full 5 hours spent at my sewing machine but I'm pretty happy with the results.

There are definitely some mistakes, but I'm hoping I'm the only one who will catch them because I was looking so closely at it. I think I did right by the vest. Good Lord, I hope it fits!

I also replaced the leather seat to the hubby's Puch moped, which was frustrating and a feat in itself. It does, however, look great. He's happy so I'm happy. He has yet to send me pictures of it (ahem!).

With three tiny projects behind me I could hear the 30's repro fabric calling my name! Another big quilt it is! So I cut down my Kona Cotton fabric to 5"x 5" and got started!

The goal for this one is to make the entire quilt out of HST (half square triangles). It's going to take a LOT of sewing and cutting and sewing to make it happen, but I found a great shortcut for getting 4 HST at once! You sew the white block to your patterned block all around the edges. Then just cut them like you would a PB&J sandwich for a kid into four triangles. Whallah! 4 HST! I haven't gotten that far yet. I have 84 of these to sew (and if you do the math that equates to 336 HST). Yesterday I sewed 42. I know, I'm crazy.



The fabric totally reminds me of Easter, too, so it was great working on it knowing that Easter is this coming weekend! This week I'm in Ohio for work, so another week away from the sewing machine. Don't worry, next weekend should at least result in cutting those HSTs down to size. The hubby is also asking for a carrying case for his files (not paper files, metal files). I already have some ideas for that one. I think that robot fabric may be rearing its head again.

Happy Crafting!