"Getting my quilt on"

It is taking me a lot longer than even I expected to throw myself wholeheartedly - and unabashedly - back into quilting.

When I go 'full-throttle' (quilting) I tend to end up feeling guilty later for not accomplishing much else in a day. It is so easy to just slip into the groove and keep the machine humming once I start. Stopping to make dinner or fold laundry, or even to simply practice social graces is hard to do when I "get my quilt on." Once I settle into the chair and turn the machine on, I only rise to press seams or grab the next set of blocks to assemble (or set blocks into place on the wall for construction into rows).

What else is there? ;)

My stolen moments lately have begun to equal something worth crowing about. Happily, I can report a little progress in the making of the old pink and brown quilt - which has been uppermost in my quilt-psyche for the last couple of weeks.

It took me a while to land on a configuration and size, and - surprise, surprise - I managed to change my mind a number of times before finally arriving at the current configuration. Of course, once I assembled the first row of five blocks, I then wished I had explored turning the silly things on point first!

ARGH! Right? A well.

Not only did I really up-size the quilt top in the process of coming up with a five-by-five block assembly, but I also replaced three constructed blocks with newly pieced ones because I wasn't happy with the fact that over ten years ago I used a poly/cotton blend fabric in some of them!

Thank goodness fabric manufacturers have responded so beautifully to the demands of quilters! There are SO many more styles, colors, motifs and palettes in 100% cotton to choose from than there were a short ten to twelve years ago! [handstand]

So, using my old blocks and (some) new materials (2 reproductions and a couple of new-fangled tickings and florals), the pink and brown quilt is really beginning to look like something. It's gone from a planned 3x5 block assembly (seen in previous blog entries) to 5x5 rows, with large plain, soft pink blocks in between (see photo).

There will be a narrow border/sash around the 25 blocks, surrounded by small-scale squares (proportionate to the larger blocks) comprised of triangles. Those small squares will be set on point and will give the quilt an extra 12" all the way 'round - very necessary to the overall dimensions.

I hated to stop working on it tonight, but dinner duty calls, so progress will resume over the weekend. Stay tuned, there is more to come! Wahoo!