Very little time this month to do anything “fun” – it’s been all work and no play kinda day.

But we were able to sneak away to the cabin for a weekend and I got to work on a project that I have been waiting to do.

I made the pieces quite awhile ago ( Chips are stacked – July 2018 ) and was waiting for the right time to do the board.

It is 48″ square, the check chips are 5.5 inches.  It couldn’t have worked out any better – the boards were 6″ including the space between. We had a couple of challenges with the paint – we had planned to use the paint that was there, but all the cans were just dried paint/stain. So we had to punt a little bit, but I think it’s turning out awesome – if I do say so myself.

Well now that the Beachy Waves top is done, I can post the Geese Migration block that goes with it.

I should have waited to do this one until the top was done because I used some fabric pieces that I could have really used when I added that extra row to the quilt. But it all worked out just fine.

Well, technically, the top is complete.

It’s not bad. After putting all the rows together it is amazing how the puckers really calmed down. It was hard to get a full picture of this because of the size that it ended up being – about 90″ long – I have 8′ ceilings in my basement and this is only about 6 inches from the very top. There were some seems that didn’t line up, but then as I went down they lined up perfectly. This is what is to be expected when working with so many bias edges I guess. 

It was a challenge and fun at the same time. But sewing on the curve is really hard on the hands – my fingers were tired when I was done, that’s for sure.

Well, I put together one more stringer for this project. so it will be 9 columns by 21 rows or vice-a-versa.

This one has 3 pieces that are pieced together because I didn’t have quite enough fabric – but I think it will work out just fine.

Now comes the hard part of getting all those seems to match up – nicely!!!

This would make such a cook kit – 10″ pieces of fabric – I didn’t even use the full strip. A cool way of using up small amounts of yardage left over on those bolts.  And you wouldn’t have to have 21 fabrics, I just used what I had left over from some 5 yard packages that I had purchased a long time ago.

Well, got so far and then came to a screeching halt tonight.

First of all – this happened:

I had all the columns made and laid them out and something looked a little off. Yep, right there in the middle one of the white on white pieces was in backwards.  It is so tricky with these white on white fabrics when they are faint. I almost thought I had one of the other ones in wrong, but I checked that one and it was fine and I just continued on – didn’t think to check any other ones.  So had to pull apart and put back together.

Trimming these up what not an easy feat at all.  But, I got into a grove and it got quicker and quicker.

Finally got to the point that all the columns were done and I took it up to lay it out and see how it was lining up.

Seeing this all laid out was an awesome site. This one is kicking my butt, but I love how it is coming together.  What I did realize, seeing it laid out like this is that I really do want it to end differently.  I want to have the same direction on both ends.  So I either have to make another column or not use one column.

I wish I would have known this before I made the Geese Migration piece of this project – I think I used a couple of pieces that I am going to have trouble finding enough to make another column.

So I pulled the box out and seeing how it looks. There are 3 that will need to be pieced because I don’t have enough width of a piece of fabric because of the arch. But It won’t be that noticeable, I will put this line towards the bottom.

In the laid out picture, I know it looks like the 5th row from the right is not all the same but it is, it just happened to be a pattern that was a arch and had a dark background, I like how it looks there. I do love this more and more when I see it, even though it is not my color scheme at all. Too bad I didn’t make this 30 years ago, my son’s favorite color was green, we had to have everything green – all because of the Ninja Turtles.

Just to put this project into perspective – each column/row took 45 minutes to sew together and another 25 minutes to trim up.  Lots and lots of concentration on this one, but I really really do love how it is turning out.  So much so, that I have a new idea for a twist on this one – good thing I have a “No New Project” rule this year – see Geese Migration project 🙄 .

So this is what happens when you are too picky –

I had 5 of the 8 strips done, when I looked at them hanging there, I just didn’t like something about them.

Well, I decided, after having 5 of these done that I didn’t like 1 of the fabrics in them. Well, that fabric was in each strip 3 times – and none of those spots was at the top of the bottom – all deep in the column.

So off to the fabric store I went – yep, broke my goal of not buying fabric again!!!!

Purchased 3 white on white fabrics and started cutting curved pieces. Then “Jack” and I sat and watched a movie together – we had a great time together, really we did.

Funny how in the quilting world we always talk rows… rows this and rows that.  In this project, it’s columns. So funnier yet, I am a programmer and my whole day life is about rows and columns – I guess my two worlds have finally collided.

Well this was a lot of sorting and coordinating to make sure that I got everything put back together with the replacements, so I am back to where I was – 5 of 8 done!

Now this is how they all should go – a little over an hour to get this one put together.

Of course, it helped the 4 of the flying geese were already done and one was 2/3 of the way done!!!  But it counts and another in the box.  This was one of my favorite panels to do and one of my first panels. I don’t usually do them, but it worked so well with this layer cake that I had, I just couldn’t resist.

So the second little bag inside of this “purple” box that I pulled out today (not even in the project box stack) was all triangles.

My first thought was that this is going to be so easy!!! Never – Never – Never say that, ever when working on a project like this.

So here is what we learned today:

• Never say this is a piece of cake – cuz then there is geometry to deal with
• Looking a gift horse in the mouth – is never good.  Yes, I had a bunch of large triangles – both accent colors and base (wings). However, every single thing that was pieced together on this block was sewn on the bias — EVERYTHING!!!  not on purpose, but because they were all triangles.
• Always look back at the quilt that this bag was from, maybe you can find some inspiration on piecing this together to reference the main project like I have done in a couple of these blocks already.

All in all – it did turn out nice. It was a bit tedious because of all the stretching, but it did turn out kinda cool.

The original quilt is here – hearts.

So today was Geometry Lesson day – #1 Round disc into flying geese and squares.

The discs were 9 1/2 inches across – so I really had to do some tricky cutting to get the center of the geese and the 3 1/2 square for the side.  But all in all I love how it turned out. This little quilt is one of the first completely finished ones that I have – because of the pattern. It is circles attached as squares then folded over and sewn down. It’s a small little lap quilt but just right some times. I have it laying one the back of my couch so when the hubby and dogs have all the other lap blankets tied up, I can grab this one.

Here is the original little quilt that this one came from:

Well I am ahead of the game with this one so I am going to only show the Flying Geese part of this one. The quilt that goes with it is the project for “this week”. I say “this week” because this is a doozie of a project.  I have sorted, resorted and then rearranged so that I could sort again. This project is going to take a lot of concentration and patience to get done – correctly. Probably why it’s still in the box!

I am almost second guessing myself on the choice to make these Geese Migration blocks out of the scraps from other projects. It takes twice as long because of having to weed thru the pile of pieces to find ones big enough and then hope the colors can work together.