Bow Tie Calculating

In July of 2013, I began my Bow Tie leaders & enders project ala Bonnie Hunter - Quiltville.  I last wrote about it January 2016, you can catch up (as I did) with this post.   I still have at most a couple dozen sets to sew into blocks.  I have 156 unique fabric blocks.  I have, if I counted correctly, an additional 203 blocks.  Of those repeat blocks, quantities are mostly 1 to 5 of each, but one of them has 18 more just like it!  

Black Tie Party, Project #043

I've calculated that the 156 uniques can be laid out, in the above pattern, at 13 rows by 12 columns, which finished will give a 39" x 36" unit.  I'm thinking I will add a 3" black border all around it.  That would bring it to 45" x 42".  Still just a bit small in my thinking, so perhaps another round of bow tie units (I obviously have no shortage of blocks), which then would bring it up to 51" x 48".  I could leave it at that, or add yet another two rows all around, maybe alternating the direction of the blocks.  I would have to cut and construct 3 additional blocks though...again, all depending on if my initial count, and calculations are accurate.  I'm not known for counting accurately!

It's A Black Tie Party

Maybe not a real party, but that's what I'm calling this quilt "Black Tie Party".  

After discovering Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville a few years back, I was browsing through her site, reading and learning about what she calls Leaders and Enders and discovered her Cheddar Bow Tie quilt, which was actually a L&E project for 2011.  I thought that would be a really fun way to use up some of my scraps, but I didn't want cheddar as my background.  I auditioned several samples for the background by just laying out the cut bow tie squares on the yardage.

First was this one with tiny black dots on white.  Ok, but only so-so.  I was looking for something different.

Next, I tried a blue that had some glitter to it.  No, that still isn't working for me.  Also, the blue bow ties just didn't contrast enough.

After that was a white-on-cream floral tonal.  A bit too blah for me.

The same could be said for the white-on-white of scattered tiny dots - reminded me of when snow first starts to fall, but it didn't do much for me as the background.

This was the winner.  Simple, plain, solid black.  Exquisite.  Classy. At that moment, the name "Black Tie Party" came to me as well.  This was in May of 2013.  I loved how the brighter fabrics really popped off the black, and even the duller fabrics still showed up nicely.

I haven't counted how many of these 3.5" blocks (to finish at 3") I've made.  364 sets are what I had available, but I don't recall if I had a specific width x length in mind and didn't write it down if I did, or if that was just the amount I'd randomly cut because that's all the black I had.  It was time to see how they looked side-by-side.  First, I started matching up sets of four and laid them out as shown above.  Um, ok, but maybe there's something I like better.  There were also a whole lot more that didn't have four pieces to make a set, so if I use this lay-out, it would only be for a portion of the quilt. 

Then I took all those others that were completed, and laid them out like this.  These are all different, and where there's a block that's the same, I pinned them together showing only one block; some have two, some three, and most just have one.  I really like how this looks on the design wall.  The picture does not do it justice, but I know there are dozens of lay-outs I could go with and I'll play around a little more before making a final decision.  It's a whole lot nicer looking at these on the design wall than having just the bare white styro-board.  Where IS that piece of flannel I bought last summer?

There are still a few more to add as these units yet require some stitching.  This is the last for which I had enough of the same black available.

There also are these tie units cut.  I'm not sure I want to risk throwing a different black fabric into the mix though.  Blacks can be tricky, so I will probably hold off on these for a second quilt, and who knows, maybe I'll go with one of my first choices as background, or cheddar.  Hot red sounds seductive so maybe it has possibilities.