Then There Was This

Hmmm, even though I was very careful in separating duplicates from each unique fabric, it would appear I missed one.  This one:

is the same as this one:

so that one is going to be replaced.  And then, it would appear once again, that I mis-counted the number of unique blocks I had, as now laying them out again on the design wall sewn into bigger blocks of four bow ties, I'm six individual bow tie blocks short, for my planned 12 x 13 bow ties center.  That or my pesky kitty ran off with them or I put them in the wrong pile while taking them off the design wall. Probably the latter. 

Empty space for "missing" six bow ties.

I have a bunch of pre-cut sets I can search through for six more uniques, but will have to find a black that's close enough in tone and texture.  I have a Kona, but Kona tends to be heavier textured than what I used.  I have a piece of a black, but it seems to be a looser weave than I used too.

For six addition, and one replacement.

Good, I do have seven more unique sets, one for the duplicate replacement and six for the bad count.  Now, to see if I have any black scraps that will work, I would only need enough to make 14, 2" squares - 2 squares per block.

Resting on black.

After carefully looking at texture and "color" of black, using a previously sewn block, I chose this one.  It's not exact, but closest of the few choices I had at hand.  Looking at them under my OttLite help in the choosing.

I may tackle that this afternoon after church (online as we decided we didn't want to battle the holiday 'return' traffic on the freeways), or I may figure out where I left off on En Provence...and remove the cat hair since the cat decided to use that bin as a sleeping spot a few times!  Thank God for lint rollers :)

Making an Effort

This year I'm only following along with, and printing out the steps, of Bonnie Hunter's 2017 Mystery Quilt, On Ringo Lake...at least so far.  But something kicked in finally yesterday as I was reviewing the instructions, and seeing the pictures others were posting of their already completed units. I wanted to sew.

I'd also been looking at my Black Tie Party project on my design wall, and while nice to look at, it kept reminding me of all the projects that lay unfinished, so I cleared off the area around my sewing machine, or at least enough room, and took down all the unique blocks, placing them in a bin.  I realized I was off by one of the 156 I had calculated (there was a duplicate I missed) so I had to make another from a fabric that was not already in the mix.  Once that was done, I started putting two blocks together, while watching the Star Wars where Han Solo was killed off as the premium channels are free for the weekend, randomly matching by grabbing without looking, though I admit I'd occasionally say no to a match and grab another.  

When those were all sewn, I placed them all back into the bin (except for the ones I held back for the odd-numbered row) and randomly grabbed and matched two sets and pinned them, and that's what's in the picture, waiting to be sewn.  During this process I found I had one block rotated wrong, so had to fix that.  

It was hot yesterday, 87º and my little room warmed up enough to have to turn on a fan.  It'll be a little cooler today, but still in the 80s; tomorrow too, though Monday will only be in the 60s with a 40% chance of rain.  I hope the rain happens, I miss rain and clouds.

Another Month Has Passed

The quilting mojo just has not yet returned.  I tried, by putting my bowties up on the design wall, and while they are nice to look at, I'm just not yet of a mind to start sewing.  I've been close a couple of times.

I picked up the paint chips for Bonnie Hunter's 2017 Mystery Quilt, but I lack many of the chosen colors in my stash.  I'll follow along but it's not likely I'll do it this year.  I ordered the special rulers...just in case, though she stated it isn't necessary to have them, but what the heck, I'll have them for next time. Right? 

My friend Panda is planning to do it so she went fabric shopping and I tagged along.  While I didn't get any fabric, I did pick up some Insul-Bright.  I've had it on my shopping list forever as I thought maybe I'd make some new potholders.  I've been using ones that are pretty worn out and stained; most are 21 years old or older...time for some new ones!

Panda saves her scraps for me, and had given me a bag or two that night, so I have culled through them and sorted them by color.  She tends to use brighter colors and different prints than I would, so it's nice to have some new variety in my scraps...

Bag of scraps

....now, to get back to a sewing mood.