Slow to start...

My 2016 is getting off to a slow start...I've been dithering for months about a quilt for my brother who's birthday is the end of this month. Nothing like waiting till the last minute... procrastination is my middle name (actually it is Ann). Anyway, I've considered at least a dozen patterns and started several which just didn't work. Finally jumped in and sewed and over a 3 day span and it went like this...

- began a Disappearing 9 Patch quilt with some beautiful batiks and ended up with mush
- tried to improve blocks with sashing
- got sashed mush...ugh!!
- put away batiks
- moved on to Diamond Dash by Missouri Star (you can see it here)
- cut layer cake of Amy Ellis' Chic Neutrals
- started to sew blocks
- doh!!! cut 25 blocks wrong
 - no way to fix them as I cut off and extra corner...arghh!!!
- think I forgot how to sew!
- slept on it to figure out how to salvage what was left of the layer cake
- decided to make Double Square Star pattern by Missouri Star (you can see it here)
- realized needed gray background fabric
- drove to Fabric Shack in Waynesville OH
- spent over an hour trying to find the right gray
- settle on a Kona...nice fabric
- however I have a personal bias against solids
-  prefer tone on tone fabric... but desperate!
- back to my studio and change my mind again for about the 1 millionth time
- FINALLY pick a pattern and stick with it

Ta dah... Charm Box pattern found on Jolly Jabber here.

While I used the Charm Box idea I didn't construct it the way the pattern does. I cut squares and rectangles and my OCD kicked in and I used only 2 fabrics in each block instead of 3...and I made half with dark tops and bottoms and a light middle and the other half of the blocks with light tops and bottoms and dark middles. And then I went one step further into the land of OCD and alternated these two versions every other block... it is exhausting...but I do like how it turned out... I think.  In looking at the light/dark arrangement in the picture  it seems a bit jumpy.  The rows are straight but my eye is bouncing around. Not thinking about it any more. I'm going to put the borders on and go find some minkee for a back. I want to get this to Terry, my long arm quilter ASAP.

Here are a couple of close ups of the fabrics in this Chic Neutrals collection...

I like the geometric patterns and the pops of yellow and maroon. Masculine looking for my brother but enough going on to keep me interested. I found this black/gray fabric in my stash.

It has several chunks missing but there is just enough to do the borders. This fabric is old old old... I'm pretty sure it came off of a flat fold table at Hancock's of Paducah... and I haven't been there in eons.



I'll link this post up with Patchwork Times and Freshly Pieced in an attempt to get back into the swing of things.

Did you make any New Year's resolutions? I never do as I never keep them but I am going to try to try to work out of my stash of fabric, yarn and thread as much as I possibly can. If I hadn't messed up this quilt all of it except for a minkee back would have come out of my stash. That's how I wanted to start the year...I'll try harder for the next quilt. I do have 2 in mind and I already have all the fabric to make them, perhaps I'll have less dithering with them... oh my goodness, please let me have less dithering...it is wearing me out!

happy stitching-
carol fun