April UFO

I am so happy that my April UFO is my Nine-Patch Strippy - NPS, for short. I had high hopes of finishing it in 2015, but a problem arose, stopping me in my tracks, and rather than solve the problem, I plucked the whole thing into a tub and stacked it under my table. My normal MO for facing challenges.

I am ready, finally, to face that challenge, and get this quilt to a finished flimsy stage. Can you hear the resolve in my tone?

Here's a brief bit of background on how this quilt came about. First, I regularly hand-piece 9-patch blocks out of 2.5" squares when meeting with the Frankfort Girls. Here's a brief summation from 2013, but there might be earlier ones. So, I have a habit of keeping a stack of 9-patch blocks ready for whenever I might need them.

When I had a really big stack, I decided that I'd like to use some of them in a strippy setting. Using the 9-patches was my May 2015 UFO goal; I have made some progress, but geesh, I sure don't handle setbacks very well, do I? I did get some construction accomplished back then, as this post explains, but in the intervening months - er, year-plus - it's been sitting dormant. The picture of NPS in that last post (above) is exactly the state I've found as I've pulled the tub out from under the table.

My tub - simply labeled with cardstock; folded (stuffed?) and waiting. This is how it looked when I pulled it out earlier this month.

One end of the current flimsy is shown above. I am dissatisfied with two things - first, trimming this off straight will result in a crooked edge; second, if you make an imaginary line across the center of the pieced blocks, they are uneven. Ideally, these would line up perfectly. I think I am going to have to "unsew" a portion of this. Now look at the other end.

Similar situation - I could see trimming off the ends even with the points of the pieced blocks; the troubling part is that these don't line up straight either. Aghh!

This final picture shows what remains in the tub. At the top of the picture are 3 more long strips of the red and white floral for the vertical strips. Just to the right of those 3 strips is one strip of 9-patches ready to be attached. Below those are the very few remaining pieces of red floral, blue floral and a couple of 9-patch blocks. (I do have plenty more of these, just not in this tub.)

I have donned my problem-solving cap; before the month is out, I am determined to have the challenges presented by this UFO tamed and sewn into a lovely quilt top. Stay tuned!

I am linking to a new (to me) site for One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts blog. I figure this project should definitely qualify!

Happy Quilting, Friends!