When life gives you lemons...

MAKE QUILTS!


So this weekend I discovered that getting married means the tax collector gets a direct line on you and everything you do... And also that Pennsylvania townships have their own taxes that they don't tell you about until you owe them back taxes and penalties. So my epic plans to brew beer, build fermentor stands and shelves, and do a little quilting was quickly transformed into 'do all of the quilting' because well, lord knows I have enough fabric!

All laid out.

I had a little fun with these blocks, this one in particular. I've had this chicken fabric hanging around forever, and I couldn't think of a reason really to use it for the quilt. But then this block that had lovely 'feature' sections came up, and I just had to use the chickens.

I was so sad to find there are only four chickens in the repeat; I was hoping to use a different one in each of the panels. But on the other hand, CHICKENS!

I kinda herped the derp on this block... When I cut the littler pieces I tend to be lazy and just whack a huge stack. Unfortunately that means these little triangles are all over the bias and go every which way. Which of course makes it an absolute pain to piece accurately. So everyone who was admiring my accuracy last week, just keep this in mind--the bias matters!

This block features two prints from that same set with the ponies from last week. Isn't it just the most darling thing you've ever seen? Also, note how badly I mucked up the y-seam above... I was doing so well with the first y-seams in this quilt, I don't know where my mad skills disappeared off to.

All laid out!

So yes, I've been making pretty steady progress on this! I finished the first 'section' or rather subdivision in the PDF layouts and templates last week, and I'm hoping to keep up at least a block or two a week. There's a total of 90 or so blocks, so I've got quite a ways to go before I get to think about binding. But I am considering following what the author did--she used dark fabric with light cornerstones to offset the colors. In preparation for that I've been trying to avoid using black in the background fabric of any of the blocks. That was part of the reason I held off using the chicken fabric for so long!

Looking at them all laid out like this is a great help for figuring out colors and values to use. I always think I'm going too heavy on the greens, but now I'm seeing that maybe I need to bring some more of them in to balance out the pinks and browns. I also want to try and use some more blues, and some more orange backgrounds.

If you have any thoughts on colors I should represent more in this quilt, let me know in the comments!