back to hsts

 the winter light has been sparse for a few days as we've had the rare deliciously overcast weather. what little light makes it into my sewing space isn't enough to illuminate anything. so i've taken few pictures of what i've done in here, but i have been here doing.

i've been studying scrap storage ideas and decluttering strategies for my sewing space more than i've been sewing so far this year, but they are ideas i've needed to gather to improve my sewing time by improving the space. 

there are several projects on my design wall at the back of the sewing studio that i would love to complete, but because of the state of the space, i can't even reach them anymore. so after a few days listening to other quilters' ideas for decluttering, i walked into the room and cleared a space to my design wall. now i can actually reach "gypsy child hsts."

i've had the hst squares laid out in groups on the far end of my cutting table for a couple of years now, but i no longer remember what system i was using to place them in the quilt. i'm assembling the blocks for the quilt in 16 patches, each block includes 2 of the red hsts and 14 more from the available squares.

since i couldn't remember how i was working through the squares, i decided to check my maths for the project and see if they gave me a clue. i did have those recorded in my quilting sketch book. what they told me was i had planned for a long, skinny quilt and i no longer liked those dimensions. so i reconfigured the dimensions to be more pleasing and calculated how many of each of the squares i would be needing for the new block count. 

then i put each unique type of hst pair in a pile with the number of that square to be used for each row of blocks in its own grouping within the pile. now i can build out one row at a time, which will make placing the squares easier. i previously completed 3 rows; there are 4 left to go.

changing the dimensions of the quilt and culling the extra pieces left me with a whole lot of extras. i'll decide what to do with them at some future point.

many of the hsts are still untrimmed, so i'm having to do that as i move through placement, too.

this is row 4 nearly built out. because i'm trying to place the squares in alignment with the already sewn squares, it's a little hard to know where my row or column is. the seam allowance eats up some of the already sewn squares, so i need to overlap the squares i'm placing to keep everything aligned. as these are small squares - 3' cut, 2.5" finished - things get off quickly if i don't overlap properly.

my workaround on this has been to place pins in a grid format to approximate where each square is. when i place a square, i move the pin to a new grid on the left which will be used for the next row. i also have a scrap strip of fabric marking the outer edge of the row. i've even placed pins in that to mark where each new block starts. there are 2 pins at the place where row 2 starts, 3 where row 3 is, etc. 

this system has been working well so far and i almost have the 4th row completely built out. i'm excited to get this wip off the wall and finally finished. it's not where i anticipated starting my year, but i'm happy it's where i am.

the rest of my sewing room still needs a major overhaul, but that'll come. i'm happy for any progress on the decluttering and the sewing.

one stitch, one step at a time.