King of Green is now in three pieces

I now have three row units that measure 36" X 108". I laid them out on my Queen size bed and there is plenty of leftover. But Lisa's bed is a King size so I think I will still need to add borders.

 My grand plan is to quilt the three sections while they are narrow and then sew them together and finish the little bit of quilting that will be needed after joining them. I used this technique for my Batik Virginia Star quilt. It worked pretty good. The only heavy maneuvering was just at the very end of the quilting.

I am so very proud of this quilt!!!!
And today is my Dear Hubby's birthday. We went to lunch together. And he was very surprised by his Birthday quilt. He never noticed me working on it!!! HA!!!

XOXOXOO Subee

King of Green-a work in progress

DD #1's birthday is in July. Just a few months away. This year it is her turn to get a bed size quilt. She has a King size bed. I started assembling blocks into rows from a Mystery I participated in 2007!!!! A NYE mystery done by Ann Smith. I have done several of her mysteries. She is as talented as Our Bonnie Hunter of quiltville fame.
Well, to make a long story short, DD#1 repainted her bedroom. It is no longer taupe but a nice sage green. She has added Navy and Cream accents. So now the NYE blocks that are not a quilt yet do not go with her new color scheme.
Quiltvilleswap to the rescue!!!! I was not sure what I was going to do with all my green strips I received in the swap. I am still planning on trying some applique' and the greens will make great leaves. But that has not happened yet.
Then I had a "light bulb" moment. I will do a scrappy 9-patch all in greens with cream backgrounds. The alternate blocks will be hourglass blocks in cream and navy. WHOOHOOO!!!! I have a plan and only 162 9-patches to make. And an equal amount of hourglass blocks.

 But first the cutting has to take place.
( I LOVE rotary cutting.)
And I love scrappy blocks.
And I have to have control even in scrappiness!
There will be no repeats of a fabric in this quilt. I cut five 2 1/2" blocks from each strip and then carefully folded them back into their respective baggies. I know...why you say...this is the OCD in me.
I have a list of all the swappers and as I cut into their strips I highlighted the list to show I used their strips.
I am not doing any strip sewing. I am using the the Hourglass units as my Leaders and Enders and making a 9-patch block in between each Hourglass.
It is working so well.
The container above is all that is left to sew together...maybe 50 more blocks.

 And here is a small sample of what the layout will look like.
I am thinking 18 blocks X 18 blocks will make an 108" square quilt.
But I am thinking DD#1 may want a rectangle quilt instead of a square quilt.
Plenty of time to make that decision.

I cannot avoid posting about this quilt. DD#1 says she reads my blog. That is one reason I have been so absent about posting. But I cannot keep this to myself any longer. I want/need to share this with all of you.
So DD#1 will have to see her quilt being birthed.
I am sorry Lisa. You know I love you so very much!!!!!

 Here are some of the 2007 Mystery blocks. I have enough to make a King size quilt. And it would go great in my bedroom...but I do not have time to play with these blocks so back into their box they go. And this was after I spent 2 whole days pressing them. Somehow they "slid" in the box they were in and they all looked like waves of water. I did a good pressing from the back and then from the front. And now they are back in the box. But I added a piece of batting to stop the sliding around. (I hope)

 I really like the fabric I used for these blocks. And I know I have more fabric. But can I locate it? NO!!! I mean 2007 was a LONG time ago.
The fabric has to be buried very deep...very, very deep. I am glad I had the mystery clues in the box with the blocks for the possible layouts and fabric requirements.
Someday I will feel like crawling under the quilting machine frame and look for the fabric. I know it is there somewhere!!! I do have the brown batik and the RJR tan in good sized amounts in their color drawers. But I cannot locate the large scale floral I used. As I said before...I know there is more somewhere!!!!!

 I swapped and mailed out a small neutral 1 1/2" swap. Easy Peasy...

The entire mailing fit into a small basket. When I do the larger swaps it takes two trips to get all the packages into the Post Office.
XOXOXOXO Subee

40 light Log Cabins blocks done!

I love making Log Cabin blocks. And I love looking at my light Log Cabin blocks!!!
I have 40 of these done now. So far the blocks are 7 1/2". I am ready to start on the 248 light/dark Log Cabins.
Yes I know, I am a manic sometimes. I am not even sure if this quilt will be for me or a giveaway. Only time will tell.

See the mass of containers below? I really made a good sized dent in all my pre-cut 1 1/2" strips.
But NOT using the really light strips is a bit limiting.
I will have to go harvest a few more medium lights before starting the the light/dark combinations. That is the safest way to make sure there are not too many repeats or like fabrics close to each other.

And I am not sure if 7 1/2" is going to be the final size or not. It will be much easier to add more rounds later than to have to remove rounds! Not gonna happen here!!

Our guild has a three day retreat this month. I am really thinking that if I just start cutting massive amounts of strips and then container them up, that this could be a good retreat project. Not too much thinking needed and not too many supplies needed either. I really need to try and travel much lighter to retreats. Last year I was smarter. I had things I never removed from the truck. But it was still good to know it was there if I wanted to change what I was working on. Last year I made 6 Project Linus quilts. I am going to save making those for marathon home sewing.

 I sew the blocks to the strips and then cut between the blocks. Be careful or you can ruin a block if you are not paying attention. Ask me how I know!!! I allowed three extra all light blocks. I ruined one with miss cutting. So I have a cushion of two extra. I should not need them as I did say I think the blocks have all the rounds I want on them.

Here are ten green fabrics (washed) all sorted into 10 stacks and ready for packaging for the swap I am hostessing over on Yahoo's Quiltvilleswap.

I figured out a cool way to neatly fold them to they are all the same size and fit into the baggie perfectly. I wrap them around my 4 1/2" ruler, slip it out and stuff into the snack side baggie. Slip in an address label and I am done!!!

Below are sets all folded and ready for their baggies....

And here are my two different sets of ten greens for the swap. And check out the basket of green strings for paper piecing!!!! Pre-sorted by magic!!!