Extravayarnza

So, late last summer I decided I needed to sew myself a quilt. I choose a pattern, picked out fabrics, I even prewashed them... then promptly put it on a shelf in my studio.

Right now, with all the change going on in my life, especially with the potently sad news I got today, I felt it was time to go to that project that's been my standby. Faithfully greeting me each day & just waiting for the right time to start. The kind of project that will be an heirloom, will last forever, just like the quilt I have from my Great Grandmother.

So, after work I burrowed inside away from the storm & learned the magic that can be had from freezer paper & a rotary blade.

The coolest part was tracing the pattern onto the freezer paper then ironing it onto the top square of the pile. Of course this could only happen after I ironed 17 yards or so of fabric & cut it all into 16" squares...

The pattern makes sort of an off kilter log cabin block. You sew from the inside out, but cut the pieces apart from the outside in. Simply rotating around the block slicing off one side at a time till just a little square in the middle remains...
Trent then did his part by being my paperweight while I cut the rest of the squares!

Then I got to shuffle the fabrics in each section so that pieces that touch each other have a different fabric. If you look carefully half of each square is 'medium light' and half is 'medium dark'.

Then much sewing, pressing, and trimming commenced. I think this was a good first quilt project because the pieces don't line up exactly. Just match them up the best you can & trim the excess. I did opt for the 'larger square' option in the pattern. As written their squares ended up around 9.5" ... I think mine will be squared off at either 11.5" or 12". This was simply by favoring the fatter end of a fabric wedge when lining up the next piece (that makes more sense if you've sewn one of these quilts...).
Much sewing later I ended up with a block like this (well just like this because this is it)

Once all the squares are sewn I'll check to see what the smallest one is & that will help decide how big to square them off to. Right now they're not square at all (they're not supposed to be yet). Then I'll get a plastic square template & make friends with my rotary cutter some more.

Then comes the big moment of sewing squares together & deciding if I want an organic cotton or wool batt.

Two squares sewn.... only 62 more to go!