final sunny blocks

plugging away a pair or two at a time on these sunny crossroads block pairs. this is pair 21 (i think)? i really like the pairing of the heather ross far, far away 3 "sleeping beauty" with the tiny yellow gingham from her trixie collection.  i did some sort-of fussy cutting for these pieces. i didn't exactly choose where i was cutting, but i was picky about which pieces i used for this block. there are two slightly different princesses in the print; mostly the top of the bed is different. i used one of each of these offset by some of the lily-of-the-valley parts in the other two pieces. for the block where the "sleeping beauty" print was the roads, i opted for the sprays of lily-of-the-valley as a contrast to the high-volume yellow gingham. i'm quite pleased with both!

once i had my pieces cut for the crossroads block, and some squares for the hst star quilt i'm making from scraps, i only had 7" of my "sleeping beauty" fabric left. i've used this print a few times already, including as a backing. and i might still have some yardage in stash (maybe). so this piece needed to be processed for scraps, which i was really reluctant to do with such a large scrap piece. i mean, there are so many ways it can be cut! and this is a print i'm partial to. i was afraid to get it wrong, to commit to a size when i didn't know what it would be used for. 2.5" strips are the most versatile cut, but this was shy .5" to do that 3 times. finally i got brave and decided it wasn't too precious of a fabric to just cut without knowing what it was going to be. i looked at the layout of the princesses and made cuts for 2 - 2.5" strips on the outer edges, where most of the princess parts were, and 1 - 2" strip down the center that is mostly white with the lily-of-the-valley sprays. 

it's done'! i cut it and now it's in the scrap drawers.

i counted how many blocks i had left to make and realized i was one short. (or was i?), so i pulled this lovely upsized "d'anjo sky" liberty print i could see in the clear bins on the shelf in front of my cutting table. it's such a pretty print and i like it paired with this anagram print, which contrasts so nicely.

then i made a couple of blocks in not very exciting fabrics, the kind that are more blender prints. it's okay that they're not very exciting or eye catching. quilts need those quieter spots to support the feature fabrics and make the pretties shine and stand out more. they have a job to do and i think they're great supporting actors. there's oscars for those, too, you know.

the next time i was making blocks, i counted again. and i only needed two more pairs but i had six fabric pairs pulled, read for cutting. what happened? where did i count wrong? or did i set some fabrics out i didn't mean to, didn't put them away? a few weeks ago when i pulled this project out, i originally culled all the yellows down to the 16 pairs i needed, but then found about four pairs of pieces already cut. i think maybe i never decided which four to put away, thinking i would decide as i went. oopsy.

this blog could be called "oopsy quilts," couldn't it? how often do i say that? ah well, it all comes right in the end.

 i now have all 28 pairs complete and have begun laying them out! this has been one of the easiest tops to lay out yet. there are 8 blocks across, 7 rows down. i started by laying the top row alternating the yellow background blocks with the low-volume background blocks. i kept moving left to right, and down a new row, until i had used one each of the 28 pairings. this got me to the middle of the middle row. then i started using the matching blocks, which made up the 2nd half.

i kept up the pattern of alternating yellow and l-v, but i added one rule: the block could not be on the same right or left half of the quilt as its partner. it was simple to keep track of where the quilt splits in half vertically, four left of center and four right. that worked easily and beautifully. i felt like that rule kept the fabrics spread out enough from each other. i looked the top over and moved a few blocks around, mostly to spread the different tones of yellow more evenly. that was it! easy-peasy.

next time you see this, it will be a completed top! yay for a flimsy.