15,798

I had so hoped to get it down to less than fifteen-four by the end of the weekend, but I don't think that's going to happen.  All the same, 700 (tiny) one-inch squares, stitched together and ready to go is still rather satisfying. 

However, today's count only served to reinforce the fact that it is going to be the better part of an entire year just to get it pieced.  Shoot!

Only....

...15,998 to go!

Phwew~

16,198 - take THAT!

Thing is, I need to get some serious cutting done (in fairly quick order) so I can finish off this pesky first row. 

Actually, if I can manage to make myself buckle down and cut about 2,100 1" squares of just the material I have currently pulled from my stash (for this project), I will be able to think about piecing the entire first row AND begin work on the second row, too!

There are ten-point-three (or, 10-and-1/3) columns, and 14 rows of  (plus a little bit of an extra) 10x10 blocks to construct overall, and it's starting to make me sit up and take notice.  Yes, that's 16,498 pieces, all starting out as one inch squares.  You read me right - ONE INCH CUT SQUARES!

And as if to make myself completely doubt my own sanity, I started thinking.  Never a good thing for me to do - at least, not without chocolate and dubious amounts of liquor at the ready. 

The thought I thinked while thinking, you wonder.  ANSWER: The realization that these first two rows will be the equivilent of just over half of PQ1!....but hardly a dent in this particular quilt.

16,298!

Make that 16,398!

Yup, the first block of 100 is together!

I can do this (just not as quickly as I would like to).

Lots

Another new mess

Lots of stuff to do...lots of ongoing projects (aka "unfinished"), and a fair amount of projects I would love to dive into. 

Ping! Ping! Ping!  Thoughts zip into my brain at lightening-like speeds and deliciously colorful visuals smack around in my head, bouncing off one another and igniting exciting ideas; my pencil and notebook always at the ready.

I know, I know - "one at a time."  But is there anyone who can hold themselves happily to creating just one thing at a time when your brain is churning out so many lovely fabric dreams and desires??

Very recently I began making a mess with a little something I have been itching to get going on for about a year.  Made up my mind which one of two ways to construct it, then stared at the model for this wonderful 'thing' for an additional two months! The whole while I debated my sanity for even considering it. 

The undertaking of cutting well over 16,000 one-inch squares has only just become daunting, and I haven't even finished laying out the first 100, yet!  However, the prospect of sewing all those 16,000++ squares is now sinking in, and while I am terrified at the thought of devoting so much time to it all, I am confident and eager, too. 

Being crazy has its advantages. ;)

There is a lot of math I could throw at you, but I won't.

OK, I said I wouldn't, but just as an example: I would need to finish three 10x10 blocks a week to have the top completed in fifty-five weeks.  Or, if I worked at it more as an 'all-consuming-and-only' sort-of project, and completed 4-5 of those blocks in a week, I could conceivably complete the quilt top in less than a year. 

Somehow, to my crazy brain, this second thought seems much more palatable and satisfying - never mind the unreasonable and insane aspects!

I mean, who wants to plan on taking more than a year to start and finish a quilt?  Just because we allow this to happen on a fairly regular basis (thereby creating a pile of UFOs as a quilter's gold standard), doesn't mean we should plan on it!  Does it?

Lots of questions.  Lots of what-ifs and maybes.  Lots more piecing ahead, but even more fussy cutting in my immediate future.

More in a while, right now I need to make lots more mess.