I don't know about you, but when I'm heading out of town for a quilt retreat weekend, I tend to bring way too many things to work on. In all fairness, you never know which project(s) will tickle your fancy. And heaven forbid, something critical is left behind for that one project you planned to spend the entire weekend working on. We all need a back-up plan, right?
If you've been handing around here for any amount of time, then you know that I've been trying to focus on reducing a massive collection of quilts and projects that are started and not finished. Once something gets pulled off the 'island of misfit quilts' shelves, I try very hard to stay focused on it until it's done, then pull another target project from the shelf and stay on track with that one until it's done. A vicious, painfully slow, but successful tactic to finish 'stuff' over the last few years.
Once upon a time (I have no idea how long ago--years and years), these triangles and squares were part of a mystery quilt. I made it part-way through the project, fell out of love, then saw the final result of the mystery and did NOT like where this whole thing was headed. So I pulled everything apart and the pieces landed in this pizza box, and then on 'the shelf.'
A couple of cuts, and the large triangles became smaller triangles and squares. I added more coordinating fabrics and scrappy strips to go with the weird print. The block inspiration comes from the Stained Glass pattern from the ScrapTherapy Scraps Plus One book. The blocks are fussy, and a bit tedious, and they don't seem to be making much of a dent from the pizza box, however, the added coordinating scraps and sashing strips are, in fact, clearing some space in the scrap fabric bins.
I anticipate needing about 140 blocks to make a twin-sized quilt. By the end of the weekend, I'm had about 80 blocks, more than halfway there. I also anticipate having quite a bit of the fabric from the pizza box leftover, so another project is likely - either more of the same, or something different.
With all those similar blocks, I like to alternate projects to keep things interesting. This Pick-up Sticks block variation wasn't ever on the 'island of misfit quilts' shelf. It was an 'I love this fabric' fat quarter purchase. You know that drill, right? Anyway, I only have to fill in the last two rows and the quilt will be nearly done with rows, sashing and borders left to sew.
As always, it's important to stay hydrated. Janet (my sewing table mate) and I headed to the local cider mill for a hard cider flight for each of us. I think we both agreed that the one named Hurricane Agnes (Agnes is my mother's name) was our favorite.
All told, good progress, and a lovely atmosphere with fun and friends! At least two other projects came with me and stayed sealed up for the weekend. Those will keep just fine for the next time I'm looking to start something new--or old--depending how you look at it!
Do you have an 'Island of Misfit Quilts?'
Happy Stitching!
Head Hummingbird
Hummingbird-Highway.com
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