Posted on by agilejack

Some Good Progress on the Weekend

I got a good deal done on my Fresh Start quilt this weekend. Of course, I finished and published my tutorial for this block yesterday. You can find it here, if you missed it.

Thanks to everyone who let me know that it appears to be thorough and clearly written. I did put a little bit of time into editing it. And I’m a visual person so it’s important to include photos.

I was supposed to play pickleball at 8:30 yesterday morning but it got canceled because of rain. Then I found out that I didn’t have a sheep herding lesson either. So I found myself up, showered and ready to go at 8 am on a Saturday… which never happens. So I had a lot of time to be productive.

After I got my tutorial posted I took my boys out for a nice 2.5 mile walk. I’m so happy my foot is feeling so much better that we can get back to walking.

When I got home I finished all the blocks that I started the night before. So, that was an additional 14 bocks.

So that’s a total of 46 blocks done. If I end up making this 7 blocks by 9 blocks that’s a total of 72 blocks. That means I only need 26 more blocks.

So after I played pickleball this afternoon and after my dinner, I dug in and made five strip sets.

I had put together the strips for each set last night so I sewed these up really quickly.

They they got pressed.

Then I got them all cut into strips for the blocks and ended up with 19 pieces.

Before I quit for the night I paired up 17 of the strips with sashing fabric so they will be all ready for me to sew tomorrow night.

I still haven’t decided how big this quilt will be. I have to wait to see how it looks once I get it up to 7 blocks by 9 blocks to see if I’m happy with it or if I have to keep going. It’s going to be about the symmetry of the quilt top. Odd number blocks mess with the symmetry. And to do fewer blocks to get symmetry the quilt would be too small. I like a throw quilt that covers your shoulders and your feet comfortably. I don’t like to have to choose which one to cover.

I met a couple of friends for breakfast this morning. We haven’t gotten together for months. It was good to get out in public and see people. We sat at the table talking for almost three hours!

It’s going to get cold later this week. They’re even predicting that we might get some snow. And that means that my brothers visit might have to be postponed. But the forecast is different every time I look at it so I’m not going to worry about it now.

Back to work tomorrow. Next Monday is a holiday so I have another short work week coming up.

31 Replies to “Some Good Progress on the Weekend”

  2. Stunning. You’ve had a few quilts through the years that I’ve copied. This will be one of them. Thanks again for the tutorial. Well if you get snow i guess you can’t pickleball. I admire your dedication to the sport and lucky you with so many courts. Do you have indoor courts? If so are they clubs with fees or free play? Seems to be by me there are more and more clubs with a high monthly fee.

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    1. We have very few indoor courts and this time of year they are packed and really hard to get access to. We are behind other communities on how quickly our pickleball infrastructure has grown. They are opening a new indoor facility near me. I may have to join as a member!

      Anne

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  4. Hats off on the hard work, you! I am really looking forward to seeing how you quilt this up. Fingers crossed for you on the weather! I love a snowfall, so beautiful, but in the PacNW snow brings everything to a standstill!

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    1. It will probably be years before this actually gets quilted. I make so many quilt tops that I just don’t have use for all of them so don’t go to the expense of long arm services.

      And yes… snow here is very different! three inches can shut the entire region down for days!

      Anne

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  5. I noticed your design wall. Where did you buy it? What kind is it? Are there any pitfalls to it? I’ve been looking at the various ones but haven’t found the right one yet. Thank you Anne

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    1. A friend of mine saw that at a quilt show many years ago. she bought one and went back and bought one for me. They were made by a guy in California. I don’t know if he’s making them any more or not. It has two roll up design walls in it and has a wooden box at the top that houses it all. It hangs over my closet door so I can get it completely out of the way when I’m not using it.

      Here’s a video of it so you can see how it all rolls up:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5h5S52oOts

      I think you can finds similar things online, but I haven’t been able to find this exact thing again.

      Anne

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  6. This is such a happy, cheerful quilt for the short winter days! One question…when sewing strip sets, do you press the seams open or to one side?
    I enjoyed the tutorial you put together.

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    1. I press all my seams to one side. the only time I ever press seams open is when I’m making. block where a bunch of seams come together in one place… and I don’t make blocks like that very often!!!

      Anne

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  10. Love the look of this quilt, and hope to go through my scraps to start one soon. Thanks for the instructions! You provide me with lots of motivation 😄

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  12. I love your posts! Thanks so much for entertaining us : ) I too have a border collie, Australian red though. I love this breed but she is a super model at times. Can you advise what the piece of equipment is that is attached to the from of your sewing machine? You quilt is beautiful!

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    1. Herding dogs to have their quirks!

      The thing on my machine is a LED light. It has a rechargeable battery and the light is on a little flexible arm so you can aim it anywhere you want. I can never have enough light!

      Anne

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  15. Anne
    I love your newest quilt! Scraps are so fun and I appreciate your generous sharing of your plans and photos.
    I do feel that I must share that 7 x 9 blocks is 63, not 72. Maybe it was a typo?
    Have a great time!
    Rhoda

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