shush, i quilted

since summer is here, our saturdays are free-er of activities and obligations than they are in the soccer and unlimited-amounts-of-extracurricular-activities school year season. i have few mommy requirements on my plate other than feeding my children adequately. and somehow i consider saturdays mine to do as i will. but there were still so many honey-do's abounding and the mr. gets rather jealous when i quilt all the time. i was lucky enough to have had two quilting intervals earlier in the week, so quilting wasn't in my plans for the weekend.

instead, i was sitting/hiding in my bedroom, reading shush, i'm quilting's archives on my android. i do this - avoid doing what i'm supposed to be doing but don't want to do, and waste time on innocent looking but useless activities rather than actually doing what i really want to do but will get me in trouble when i'm seen doing it. if i'd spent all the time quilting i've given over to reading about other people's quilts and fabric in blogland, i'd probably have 5 more quilts done by now. but i do enjoy the camaraderie and inspiration. so it's a toss-up.

anywho: shush, i'm quilting. liz gellert is a witty, fresh gal, new on the scene from aukland, nz. i found her through a link party and was catching up with her posts (easy since she's only been blogging since february). i was getting tickled reading how liz is an obsessive fabric buyer and starts new projects whenever she feels like not completing those she's already working on. it felt so familiar and truly buoyed me up, validating my own naughty habits with her humorous recounts, making it all sound so normal and sane. just knowing someone else is the same helps.

and although i was enjoying the read and liz's sense of humor immensely, i suddenly thought, "if she can continually start multiple projects and get around to completing them, then so can i." then i remembered putting the baby to bed the night before. as i tucked her in under her "expecting blossoms" quilt, i said to myself, "this is not the quilt i meant to make for her." originally, i had planned on using a charm pack of french general's "pom pom de paris" moda line with elizabeth hartman's "modern charm squares baby quilt" pattern for daughter #5. but then i got pregnancy sewing aversion and by the time i came out of it, i was in love with the "oops a daisy" line and convinced myself i needed to make a 6 and one 1/2 dozen quilt (and tutorial) with it for baby first. so i caved. and never made that "pom pom de paris" cutey.

well, liz inspired me. i wasn't going to waste anymore time not making stuff i wanted to make. so i put my phone down and grabbed my project box for "pom pom" and got to work. it took me about 2 hours to sort, cut, and configure the rows of squares for the top. although it's rather scrappy, i was particular about how i wanted the fabrics placed, which is what took so long. there was definitely method to the madness. that design wall i want to make sure would have been helpful. i settled for the front hallway floor instead.

i took a photo for reference so i could preserve my well-thought out fabric placement for the final product. (i'm really getting sick of ugly photos of wip's on my mud brown tile, fyi. another reason to go make that design wall right now.)

sewing the rows together took a lot less time.
maybe 30 to 45 minutes?

zip, zip, zip, and they were done. i chain pieced, of course. and thought the whole time, "i love chain piecing! what a blessed time saver!" it was so easy that way. and fun, too.

my chain piecing method:
first, stack the row in one pile, working from one end to the other. just pick up the first piece and then the next, continually placing them on top of the stack in order.

second, take the first pair (made of a half rectangle and a full square), turning the rectangle upside down so right sides of the fabrics are together, and sew the 1/4 inch seam. repeat with all 6 pairs, one after the next. don't cut in between sets; just advance a few stitches and add the next one in.

third, cut apart the sets and join them together, 2 by 2, in the same manner as the original pieces so that you have 3 sets of 4 pieces.

fourth, join the 3 sets of 4 into one long row.

fifth, chain press all seams to one side (which is so super fast, too. love it!)

to keep my intentionally placed pattern in place, i kept referencing the photo i had taken to make sure i'd got it right. i could have marked them or mentally figured out what pattern to sew them in, but i'm too lazy for that. just looking at the photo was super quick and helpful. i made no mistakes at all.

and now my strips are all finished.
up next, i need to cut the sashings and attach. this is going to be done in no time!
thanks, liz, for the fun read and permission to quilt in whatever crazy order i choose.