C7, 8, 9

Tah-d-a-a-a-a-a-h-h.

Color me happy.

C9 (plus updates)

I didn't get a chance to work on it much yesterday, and today I lost about five hours of perfect work time to other (one of 'em fun) activities, so I was making up for lost time late in the afternoon and into the early evening.

After making dinner, and yakking with the boys a bit, I am happy to report there remain only 28 pieces to find and place on this square.  Hoping to sew it together tomorrow.  I will post a picture if I manage to reach this hopeful - but lofty - goal.

Tantalizingly close to Row D now.  Wheeeee!

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UPDATE:  Fri., May 30; 1:23PM  (1/3)
Taking a bit of a break - just a smidgen, mind you - to get a snack of hummus and an 'everything' bagel, some carrots and celery, a-a-a-nd to fill up the ol' glass with more cranberry juice.  I have managed to find and place a few more pieces into C9, but I have also managed to replace an equal number with new finds -  so a lot of my time was spent (wasted) in frustration.

Began the day with just about 20 or so pieces to find and place; currently I have 12-16 to go.  Twelve if I leave well enough alone, and sixteen if I am an absolute idiot (and a glutton for punishment) and keep trying to find more perfect matches for pieces here and there that are already in place!

Somebody stop me. Argh.

I WILL HAVE THIS BLOCK FINISHED TODAY!!  I will.

I will. [said with some lack of conviction]

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UPDATE:  as of 3:21PM  (2/3)
Seven left to place, and I almost got here without futzing and replacing things.

Hey! I said "almost."

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UPDATE:  as of 5:22PM  (3/3)
Ready to stitch it together....this impossibly horrid-looking, grotesque group of one-inch pieces. For the most part, they fairly well match the image, it's just...well...I don't know how to say it, but this is the least satisfied I have felt (since beginning this ordeal of a quilt) with any one block (= 100-piece grouping).  On the whole, it looks less than pleasing.

Would it be OK if I moved to a completely different portion of the image and made some pretty blocks for a while - please?

C8

-- is rolling along (as of late yesterday).

I must keep telling myself, "Try not to be SO fussy."

R-r-r-r-r-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ght. I'm a quilter.
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UPDATE:  5/26, 8:12 PM - Began to piece it together.  Will have C8 done tonight!  Have to admit it feels so goooood.

C7 Update

Seventy and thirteen.
70 placed for C7, and 13 in place for the two adjacent blocks.  Sheesh.

It was going fairly well, then - BOOM!  Brick wall.

So many similar rusts to sweet potato golds and oranges into sudden yellows. . . . . .and not just 'yellow,' but v-e-r-y particular yellows.

Many of which are demanding a slight green tinge in one direction or another.

Gaaaa-a-a-a-gh!

I'm going to clean the cat box then decide if I want to head outdoors or back to something very yellow. [whimper]

Happily moving on C7

I couldn't stand it any more...I just couldn't.

While I was cultivating pieces for laying out C7, I grew eager to see what VS would look like with the six completed blocks of Row C sewn together and placed side-by-side with the section RowAB.  So I stitched the six blocks together and quickly ran to someplace with room, good light, and no mess, grabbing the camera on the way.

Here is the image I snapped earlier this morning, and it looks so good!

Mind you, the rest of RowAB was folded under for the sake of getting this photo taken - I haven't done anything silly or foolish like take it apart.  I just needed to see this portion as it compares to the original painting.

I am re-energized, to say the least!

A compromise of peace

A few years back I wanted to enter a quilt contest, and I was convinced that my entry should reflect the color wheel - in a really grand way.

Within the first few days of hearing about the contest and deciding to enter it, I changed my mind and decided the quilt should actually be based on that simple but groovy - universally recognizable - peace sign.

Over the span of about six days I teetered back and forth between these two design choices, driving myself (and my sons) nuts trying to decide.

Before long I then began to desire that my quilt should incorporate both elements, but how was I going to do that?  Then, one morning I woke with a start.  A cosmic two-by-four smacked me between the eyes and provided me with the perfect marriage of both artistic desires.

I spent a couple of days graphing out a very large peace sign, then colored in a wheel to lay under my image in order to decide where each section of the spectrum should fall.  I even sent several choices to friends for their input as to how to position the color portion.  A few days later that decision was made, and I set about collecting the materials it would require to migrate gradually from one color to the next.

This aspect would prove to be more difficult than anything else.  The company sponsoring this particular contest stipulated you could only use materials purchased from their store, and you had to have receipts to prove it!  Well, since this chain store was touting the contest as an 'annual event', I didn't even blink twice as I began to amass my collection.  MANY fat quarters (and eighth yard cuts) later I could begin cutting!  More than 170 different materials were used overall.

Long story short -

Sadly, the store discontinued their yearly quilt contest after only two years, but PQ1 is a joyous celebration of color...and of my determination to see it through.  If I could have known sooner into the assembly process  that my hands were't tied to such rigid obligations, I would have had a broader palette to select my fabric from, but I truly believe I managed to make the best out of it anyway.

PQ1: Let it Begin with Me took over 880 hours to assemble and quilt  (4,225 1.5" cut squares for the top and another 30 pieces for the back and binding; measuring 65"x 65"), and it was worth all of the effort because now I have the chance to share it with all of you visiting from  

The hardest decisions I have to make any more regarding this quilt have to do with categorizing it for shows and contests.  For Blogger's Quilt Festival I had a tough time narrowing it down from five category possibilities to two, but I think I settled on Original Design (OR ROYGBIV).  [Coin toss]

I am proud to say that EVERY portion of this quilt is original; even the templates I created by hand for the three large peace doves, right

down to the smallest four - are my work (with a little divine inspiration from Picasso).  And because I went a little crazy while cutting out the 1.5" pieces for the color gradation, I still have bags of usable pieces leftover.  To date, I have made several variations of my original design - including exact miniatures, and quad designs with varied color placement.  I love them all!

Thank you, Amy, for the chance to enter your festival.  And thanks to everyone who took the time to view my quilt blog.  Enjoy the festival....you'll find me there, somewhere, wandering and enjoying the work of others!

My sons - bless them - thought there should be a photo of the back, too. It's very windy ~

C6

- in process.
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UPDATE: 5/14 - 23 more to go before stitching it together.

Oops, sorry

Guess it has been a few days.

If you're keeping track, C4 was completed days ago; I'm nearly finished laying out C5, and I hope to get it stitched up tonight or early tomorrow.

There may be a photo in your future.

As of May 2

C3 completed...now laying out C4!

Image is of C3 before stitching it together