Quilting Again

    Today was my first day back in quilting mode. I probably should have started working on quilting the tops I already have done, but piecing is my favorite part of quilting, so to get back in the swing of things, I started sewing these flying geese units I had already cut out. I didn't realize stripes were going to be so hard to use in these. I did figure out how to use stripes correctly from these blocks where they are not right. I'll use them anyway. In a bigger grouping, I don't think it will look too bad. 

     These are from men's shirts. I have amassed quite a few men's shirts now, and I thought they would make great quilts for the veterans hospital. Can't be too girly if it started out as a man's shirt, right? The pattern I was using calls for columns of solid rectangles between the columns of flying geese. I like the scrappy look of the flying geese so much, I think I'll just do them all flying geese instead. The rectangles are 5 1/2 x 10 so I can't sew two together to make squares. I thought of that, and it would look cute in all those plaids, but since these were cut according to a pattern without that in mind, I can't change that. What I could change is the direction.

   With all the points going up (above) it looks a little like mountains, but with the points alternating (below) it has a zig-zag look to me. Which is better? I could cut more rectangles and do it the way the pattern originally called for, but I'm liking the flying geese. I do need some input. I'm leaning towards the bottom picture, and so is DH.

   In addition to sewing about half of the flying geese I had cut out, I finished step one in Stashbusters Big Busted Mystery. I have lots of 2 1/2 inch strips already cut, so when I saw that's what you started with, I decided to fit it in. I'm doing mine scrappy as usual, but I picked all the colors from a particular fabric I plan on backing it with. I'm trying to expand my horizons when it comes to lights, and not just use white or cream. I chose pink, green, purple, and blue lights in addition to white and cream. I also am trying to use a couple of yellows as darks. We'll see how it works out. I figured a mystery quilt is a good place to experiment. I recently saw a picture of a log cabin quilt with some yellows as darks, and lots of colored lights and I loved it. It's giving me inspiration to go outside my comfort zone on choosing colors.