test blocks

our first night home, i unpacked all the fabric orders that were delivered while i was gone. i mostly got bits of heather ross's malibu collection (for obvious reasons). it had been a loooong day driving, so that's all the fabric adventuring i did. it was really nice to open the blue sewing room doors to a clean space, that's for sure. all the cleaning and decluttering i did before we left paid off.

as i was drifting off to sleep i was seized with an idea for a new liberty + chambray quilt. in the morning, i promptly began pulling fabrics for it and testing my idea. i was thinking of a dark chambray with some vibrant primary prints, particularly those with a groovy, 60's kind of vibe. liberty has several of these. i thought i had a handful of them, which is all i would need for my idea. i didn't have as many as i thought; the majority of the prints i had with the right feel had the wrong color palette. annoying. so i started pulling other prints with the right colors and a close enough feel.

i found a really beautiful, deep indigo chambray in my stash. unfortunately, there's only half a yard of it. what was i thinking ordering only half a yard for something that would clearly be a background fabric? i sort of want to give younger me a smack in the pants for that.

i spent way too long this morning looking online for some more vibrant, groovy prints and that chambray. i found one or two prints and no chambray. so i gave up and started working with what i have on hand.

for my pattern i'm using a rectangle pinwheel (as opposed to an hst pinwheel) setting. after debating on block size, i settled on 2.5" x 4.5" pieces, which makes 4.5" sub-unit pieces and 8" finished blocks.

after making the first pinwheel block i took a break to try another of my newest ideas - the "lemonade" solid with green dense schmidt prints. i took the course of least resistance (mostly) and made a few crossroads blocks. only i downsized them. these blocks are made with units that measure 1"sq, 1" x 2", 1" x 2.5", and 2" x 2.5". they're on the petite side! and really cute.

i will need 196 of the smaller blocks to make the same sized quilt as the original crossroads. i might be going a little smaller there, too. time will tell. 

i was also excited to work in a few non-neon pinks, especially some liberty "capel" in pink. but since i decided to use this very pretty "petal pink" from the ruby + bee solids collection, i'm now unsure where to work in more pink. the little center squares are a miniscule 1/2", so i don't think you'd even see the print if it was used there, which would be a waste. maybe i'll go a little rogue and use the pink prints as road pieces and something else in the center on a few blocks.

once i got testing that idea out of my system, i went back to the liberty pieces.

i saw that flipped unit in upper right after taking photo; fixed it

 since i couldn't find the indigo chambray online anywhere and i only had enough for 20 blocks, i knew i was going to have to supplement somehow. i could do sashing or borders maybe? i should have had enough for 24 blocks, but i did some sloppy and then mistaken cutting. i was a right cutting idiot, which was very frustrating considering i'm already tight on the fabric. shoot.

i looked through my stash of chambrays and found a lighter version of the same fabric and tested it out.

there are at least two ways i can mix these blocks. the above setting has both colors in the same orientation. 

i think i like the secondary pattern in the chambrays on this second setting better. the checkered rectangles are fun.

i spent a whole lot of time picking fabrics, pressing and cutting, and then a little bit of assembly. i just don't understand quilters who are like, "i made this top last night. it was so fast and easy!" i thought these blocks would be fast and easy. so why don't i have a top yet? 

probably because i had too many other thing also going on today. i can't just sew dawn to dusk most days, darn it.