Easy Street Layout

Finally! I completed all of the component blocks and triangles before going to bed last night and decided to wait until this morning to do my layout.  Besides, I needed to move some things around in the basement to have enough room on the floor to get the entire quilt in one spot.  Apparently the design wall is not nearly big enough.

Got some basic chores done this morning and then headed downstairs for the big layout project. I went according to Bonnie's layout direction, starting first with the 16 Block A units on point, then filled in the outside first with the Large triangles and the with the Small corner triangles.  But where were my 9 Block B units? I searched the house for fear that I had set them down somewhere while I was helping my son get some things ready to take back to his apartment. Oh no, did I put them in the trunk of his car? I was frantic! I looked through the leftover fabric, folding and refolding the remaining stash. Nothing. I sat down in my new sewing/office chair on the verge of tears when I realized they were waiting patiently on the design wall where I left them last night. What a relief! I happily took them down and placed them into the holes in the top layout. I moved a few pieces around to eliminate the obvious congregating of same fabrics and I love it!  I did not have time today to sit and sew and think I probably needed the time away from my machine. We could both use the rest.

Here is the current top layout.

Easy Street Layout

I know that I will do some type of border, but can't decide what that will be yet.  At this point, I just want to sew the top together.

I must say that this has been such a wonderful experience. I have never done a mystery quilt before and the only piecing I have ever done is half square triangles using Thangles.

While there are many nose jobs on the beaks of my flying geese and some of my corners do not match exactly, I am very proud of this effort. I know that if I had seen this pattern before hand, there is no way I would have attempted it.  A huge "Thank You" goes out to Bonnie for sharing her pattern and her talents with us and encouraging us along the way.  If only pattern books were written this way, I would do lots more piecing!

Will be posting this to Bonnie's Easy Street Link page.  If you want to check out all the others and their progress, visit it here http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2013/01/mystery-monday-link-up-jan-7th.html

Thanks for checking in on my progress.  I'll be posting more as I progress with this and many more projects.

Blessings!  Sharon

Making Progress (Photos)

Here are the photos of my progress as of Saturday evening.  Sunday afternoon was working diligently on the remaining four Block B. Tried to rush and had more than my share of unsewing!

Samples of Block A

Samples of Block B

Sorry this took so long to post. Really had lots of troubles with posting photos. Finally tried Google Chrome and all is well.

Making Progress

What a week! Wednesday was a slow day of trying to get back to normal after the holidays. I did cut my red center squares and laid out the units to piece together four of Block A. Unfortunately, I didn't sit down to sew until evening after getting some truly wonderful news about the health of someone dear to me. My sewing was slow and deliberate while trying to process the emotions I had put on a shelf for several weeks pending the outcome of input from a specialist. I think I only completed 2 of the 15" finished squares. I was emotionally and physically drained and cannot honestly know for certain how many were completed. Thursday brought another session of pt and then a second viewing of "Les Miserables" with my kids. While I really wanted to get my sewing accomplished, spending time with them before they go back to college is much more important to me. I did manage to slip downstairs after we came home and got two more square finished. Yeah! Friday brought a list of errands with sewing time squeezed in as well. By the end of the day, my total was up to 10! It was a busy and very productive day. Today I finished the remaining six Block "A" units for a total of 16 and laid out all 9 Block "B" units. As I make this post, three of the nine are complete.


Here is a peek at my works in progress.


Here is what I have learned this week ...
*Pay attention to the pattern. It is easy to twist a piece into the wrong direction if you are not careful.
*Unsewing is a part of sewing. Go with it! If it's easier to just cut new pieces, that's ok, too!
*Sewing this many small units together is like an international flight. Sometimes you need to get up and walk around to stretch your body and clear mind.

Tomorrow's goal is to complete the remaining six Block "B" units and begin laying out the entire quilt top. WOW! Can't believe how much fun this has been. Staying on track for quilt top to be pieced for a reveal to my Bee on Wednesday.

Today's Goals Accomplished

I am back on track! Have watched bits and pieces of several Bowl games today and still managed to cut my missing green components and piece together my remaining 8 large pieced half square trianlge units from yesterday's clue. 

Tomorrow I will cut an assortment of 16 red center squares and begin the process of piecing Block A from Clue #8. For now, its back upstairs to watch the Orange Bowl.

Good night all!

12 not 4 means 19 not 16

Bahahaha! Joke is on me! I was really impressed with myself last night and all that I had accomplished. After all, I had completed all my tasks (or so I thought), and was enjoying time together with family watching a movie as we waited to ring in the New Year.

Since I have seen the Star Wars movies many times, I decided to check my Facebook page to see if anyone was posting anything interesting. I began reading Quiltville posts about a previous misprint needing 19 5-1/2" squares cut into quarter square triangles instead of the 16 we had cut the other day. Other posters were commenting that they came up short on their quarter square triangles and were confused about making the large pieced triangle units.  This made no sense to me. I had completed my pieced units and had parts to spare.  Perhaps I over cut again. I've done that several times already. It kept nagging at me, so I read and reread the instructions for Clue #7 several times before the light bulb went off. We were to assemble 4 of the smaller pieced triangles and 12 of the larger pieced triangles. Now I get it! I had only done a quarter of the piecing for those large triangle units and would also run short of my green precut pieces. Great! I wanted so badly to go down and cut the missing pieces and piece together my missing 8 triangle units, but I just didn't have it in me. I also had a full round of physical therapy yesterday afternoon and combined with rotary cutting, it can really take a toll. Not to mention that I assembled my new office chair before dinner.

Oh well, it is now New Year's Day and I have had a wonderful night of sleep and am ready to begin this new day and new year afresh! I have now cut the missing quarter square triangles and added in a few other fabrics for more scrappiness and will work to complete these remaining 8 units today.  I have also printed out the final clue for the complete assembly and will work toward the goal of completing the top before my Bee meeting here on January 9. It will be alot of work and I am excited about the final product, but this is the end of college football season and I don't want to miss some of these games!

Happy New Year to all!  I will post my assembly progress of Blocks A and B in Clue #8 as they are completed. Make it a wonderful day.

Sharon

New Year's Eve on Easy Street

This morning we got Clue #7 which begins with combining the components of Clue #2 (64 Flying Geese and 64 Background rectangles) for completed units.  Of course, this should be scrappy, but that meant I needed to spend far too much time and effort making sure that the background rectangles and the background of the Flying Geese do not match in any way.  It worked out just fine, but probably took longer than Bonnie had intended.

Now on to the building of larger units!  YIPPEE! I've been waiting for this! The instructions call for the assembly of four half square triangle units in two different sizes.  I hear Bonnie's advise ringing in my ears as I construct the rows noting that I can hide any sizing discrepancies in the seam allowances.  DONE!  Thank you,  Bonnie.  Without giving the detailed directions in this blog, here is the result of my efforts. (Am working from a different computer and having trouble cropping - sorry.)

Small Half Square Triangle Units with Large Half Square Triangle Units

Bonnie also noted that we shouldn't stay up too late this evening as our BIG FINISH will be posted tomorrow morning!  I'm so excited!

I have also ordered my new SewAdjustable Table from SewMates since my wonderful children (what is the proper way to refer to college age kids, anyway?) gave me a "Quilting Fund" jar and primed it with a generous nest egg.  I just noticed that the jar has been located in my sewing area and that my dear husband, who brought it to its place of honor also seems to have dropped a few bills in as well.  What a guy!  My newly acquired desk/sewing chair has made its way down here as well and is about to be assembled for the big day tomorrow.

Happy New Year to all!

Double Bricks and a twist!

Clue # 6 for Easy Street was posted on time Friday morning and looked to be too simple for a full week's work.  We are cutting 2" strips of background fabrics, sewing them together in strips and cutting 3-1/2" squares. Total squares needed are 128. We have "extra credit" (early prep for another step to follow) of 16 5-1/2" squares cut into an X to yield 64 quarter square triangles. Piece of cake!

At least that's what I thought!  After some heavy exercise in order to impress the surgeon of my progress, then showing off for said surgeon, navigating traffic and snow in the hour plus drive to the 30 minute appointment to the surgeon all took their toll and made it quite difficult to do any more than half the work on Saturday. Got up this morning invigorated and ready to complete the double brick blocks and cut the quarter square triangles to be ready for the next clue.

Quarter Square Triangles

Double Brick Blocks

The twist is that instead of having the progress link to her website on Monday, we will be getting Clue #7! Yeah! While I appreciate easier work these past few clues, I have been more than anxious for Fridays to come to get on with the next steps toward completion.  Bonnie's note said that we are "on our way to a RAPID FIRE FINISH"!

I, for one, can't wait!