Playing with Blocks

A lot of my non-deadline quilts get stalled at block stage. I didn't used to have a good place to lay quilts out, and that made it hard to figure out layouts. As I worked on assembling that red and white wedding quilt, I decided it a great time to work in some of those UFOs stalled at block stage.

I've upgraded a couple things about my quilt block assembly, specifically how I organize my rows for sewing. I used to pin a post-it note onto the first block of a row, with the number of the row written on it. I finally gave in and bought numbered pins, which I thought were ridiculously expensive, but I love them now that I have them. Also, after stacking the blocks from left to right, I would pin each stack for a row together until I started sewing that row. Good insurance should the stack of blocks get knocked over. I was having issues getting a pin though the stacks between my repetitive stress injury and hand issues, so I switch to using wonder clips (like a small clothespin) and I'm liking that option better as well. 

Although I web blocks all the time, I found webbing a quilt top unwieldy and unnecessarily fussy. For those of you who love that method, that's great, and I am so glad you found something that works well for you! I still do best sewing one row of blocks at a time, then sewing the rows into pairs, then pairs into fours, etc...until the quilt center is finished. One thing about sewing just one row of blocks at a time, is I go though a LOT of leaders/enders. When I get into a mood to assemble quilts, I've found it just as easy to sew a row of another quilt together as a leader/ender as it it to use small units. The assembly mood struck this week, so I've been using different quilts as leaders/enders for another. 

This Weed Whacker quilt has had the blocks done for about two years. It has the same number of blocks as the wedding quilt I was assembling, so I used it as my leader/ender for assembling the wedding quilt, and now both quilt centers are finished. I pieced a piano key border at the same time I made the Weed Whacker blocks, so after I cut an inner border I can get this quilt top finished. 

I got DH to help me lay out another quilt that had all the blocks finished. Once it was sorted into organized rows, labeled with my numbered pins, and clipped with wonder clips, I started messing with the leftover units from this quilt. I didn't want a border on this quilt.

After some fiddling, and raiding of my scrap user system, I came up with this layout made from the leftovers. Again, I don't think it needs a border.

I was going to stop there, but I came across a plastic shoebox that could easily be emptied if I just assembled another quilt center.

I made the blocks for this quilt probably 3 years ago. It is made completely from double sewing corners and sew and flip corners and claiming that extra HST. All of these are from 2.5 inch units originally. I don't like to short the seam, so when I'm making 2.5 inch sew and flip corners, I use a template I made to draw a second line on the unit. I cut a 1.75" square from template plastic, then cut that in half diagonally. When I draw the diagonal line on the 2.5 inch square for sewing the sew and flip unit, I simply grab my homemade template and draw a second line right after. It doesn't take much extra time, and I prefer drawing an extra line to squaring up units that are not a consistent size. Some people hate sew and flip units, and that's fine too. I often make units that don't have to be sew and flip that way just to have the bonus HSTs. These are units from multiple quilts, so it takes a while to have enough to make a quilt, but they do add up. 

This is one block from that quilt. It takes 16 HST's and with the size HSTs I used it makes a 5" finished block. (See my numbered pin marking the row?) I think this quilt need a border, but I'm not planning on fiddling with that now. I just want to get the quilt center together and hang it in the closet. I keep changing my mind of what type of scrappy border it needs, so I need some time to think about it.

Again, I was thinking I would stop there, BUT, I am getting ready for a basting spree now that the three wedding quilt tops are finished. Last basting spree I basted 10 quilts. I've only quilted six of those. Even with not quilting all of the last bunch, I have enough pins to baste more than just the wedding quilts. I just found out I have another great-niece on the way, and I happen to have a UFO that would be perfect for her, so that will get basted as well. I glanced over my remaining quilt tops trying to choose another to baste, and I found one that's been languishing just because I haven't finished piecing a backing for it. 

The particular quilt top has a bunch of fabrics from DH's grandmother's stash, and she had a ton of salmon colored fabrics. I'm not a huge fan of salmon-y colors, so I cut what I could into 10.5" squares to piece a backing for that quilt. I started piecing the backing a couple years ago got interrupted by life and never finished. Well, this is an easy fix, so I laid the backing out and it will be assembled as well. If I have enough pins, I plan to baste that quilt as well. DH is going to help me set up the basting tables tonight, and my plan is to spend the next few days basting quilts until I run out of pins. He's working a bunch of days in a row, so even if I only baste one quilt per day (which is my usual goal), I'll be finished before his next day off. 

I only FMQ an hour per day, so I'll have plenty of time to work on assembling the quilt tops that aren't finished yet. I don't feel like every quilt has to go from start to finish in one whack, but moving a quilt forward to the next step brings a huge sense of satisfaction.