A Flimsey

 

The Alphabet Animal quilt is a Flimsy.  

It feels good to have this top finished. It has taken me a while to get it finished due to interruptions. However, there was another reason it took so long. I didn't have a solid plan for this quilt. I changed my mind more than once as I went along and all along the way I had to make decisions about what to do. When I bought the fabric I was going to use the striped fabric for the borders and the music note background for the back, very simple. By the time I got home I had already decided I would make a few pinwheels with the solid fabric. The solids stash has turned into a pretty hearty supply after my purchases for the Framed 9 patch and this was a good way to use some of it. I think I went back to the shop and bought more of the music fabric a few days later.

My few pinwheels turned into 40 pinwheel blocks for the side borders. This is a 6 inch pinwheel block and 7 blocks fit perfectly for the side borders, after I fixed my mistake with the inner border.

All the time I was working on the border blocks my mind was working on the top and bottom borders. It was like a program running in the background. 

I made four corner blocks with the striped striped fabric pinwheels on point and worked out the size to cut the corner triangles to make the blocks six inches.  All the while I was taking care of other things that I had to do and this was running around in my mind. I was running out of background and I knew if I made a mistake in estimating the size to cut for what I had in mind I would not have enough. I called the shop and they still had some of the fabric. I picked it up the yesterday and knowing I would have enough fabric even if I changed my mind or made a mistake, I forged ahead.

I decided to make the borders with the striped pinwheels on the ends and a 9 inch section, with one 6 inch block and one 3 inch half pinwheel block, on each side of a center striped on point pinwheel block. I measured every thing and made the center blocks with oversize triangles then cut the block 6 high by eight inches wide and it fit. I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Because the side borders are 7 blocks the corners were different. You can see here what I did, On the top I had the small pinwheels cornerwise or turning the corner. On the bottom I had the background squares turning the corners. To me it makes sense.

I have made a few quilts with panels and if the borders are simple it is easy. If you make blocks and the panel doesn't give you any excess fabric to trim away without trimming away something you want to keep, there is math involved. This panel had a row of blue scallops at the top and bottom that I trimmed away. That made the sides easy but I had to work to get the top and bottom right. In the end it wasn't hard and I'm happy with it.  There is also a little something fun to hunt for. Three of the pinwheels seem to have caught the wind from a different direction. It must have been those high winds we had last week.

Alphabet Panel

The last time I went to the quilt shop for more green fabric to finish the second Framed 9 Patch quilt, I bought an Alphabet animals panel and some fabric to go with it.  That kept me on track to finish the F9P so I could start the alphabet quilt. There have been delays and interruptions but I have made some progress. However those interruptions frequently lead to problems. When I am undecided about how to proceed I usually have more than one idea about what to do next. When I come back to the project after the interruption I somethings pick up on an idea that I have discarded and go ahead with it.

These photos are the top and the bottom of  the panel with the 2 side inner and outer pinwheel borders. This is an example of  what happens when I am interrupted. I meant to sew on all 4 inner borders before the pinwheel borders. There was a strip of blue scallops on the top like the one on the bottom. After I added the pinwheel borders to the sides I was in a quandary over what to do next. after looking at it for a while I realized the I had meant to cut off the scalloped strips. I undid the stitches for a few inches where the inner borders were stitched to the panel and cut away the strip, added the inner border strip and re-stitched the inner borders to the panel.  At the top left, you can see where I have not yet stitched the end of the inner border to the panel. It wasn't hard to do and it was a lot easier to do than anything I might had done if I had proceeded without fixing my mistake.

This is the panel with the 4 inner borders and the pinwheel side borders.

I need to decide what to do for the top and bottom borders .Each border block is a 6 inch four patch with 2 pinwheels and 2 background squares. The space between the corner block is 25 inches. I will figure it out so it looks OK.

The corner blocks will be 6 inches pinwheels on point (or pinwheels in a square) I need to add the corner triangles of background  corner triangles after I figure what size I need o cut. The corner pinwheels are the same striped fabric as the inner border. that stripe will also be the binding.

So this is where I am now. I am going to make more of the 4 patch pinwheel blocks and I am not sure what I will do next. I may not get back to this for a few days. I want to do it when I know I can work without interruptions. That may be a while.

I feel slightly over whelmed with everything. I have an appointment Friday to get our healthcare squared away. That is almost finished but I need to make sure that Jack's pharmacy  insurance will cover all his meds. 

My curbside grocery pickup order drives me crazy every time I place an order. The website keeps changing, They seem to be doing something every single time to make something "better". It is never better.

As if I didn't have enough to confuse me, I got a new "smart" phone. I have really lagged behind on technology. I thought all I ever wanted to do with my phone was make and receive calls. Then I was pushed into texting so I could get in touch with my grandchildren. For all the curbside pickups, I found I needed apps to make it easy. My old phone was so out of date I couldn't download apps. I ordered my phone and managed to get it set up. With the the help of some You Tube tutorials, I am learning. I connected my phone to Bluetooth in my car and downloaded some apps.  Yesterday and today I had video phone calls with my grandson and 18 month old great grandson. I said Hi to Elijah and his Dad told him  to say "Hi to Gigi" and he did.  That was special; it makes all the fuss of learning to use my new phone worth the effort.