Lucy Progress

Completely surprised that I am so quickly reporting on my Lucy progress. I feared that making those 25-patch blocks - 61 of them! - would take me forever, yet I find that I am finished with them  - did the last of them on Wednesday morning. Another surprise: I had cut enough units to make 80 blocks. So I did.

Just how satisfying is this!? Quite. I not only have this first part of the blocks made, but I've kept my cutting table cleaned off, too! Yay!

These blocks simply needed a system for construction, and I came up with one. It's amazing what one can accomplish when one is organized. *wink*

First, I had all my sub-cut units lined up on one side of the table, at the top of my main working area.

I pulled five sub-cut units at random and placed them together for what would become a block. I rearranged when like colors touched or a single fabric was too frequent. If I found myself becoming too OCD about a block, I reigned that in by remembering that this is a big quilt, and so what if a couple of fabrics show up close together? It won't matter. So, no obsessing!

 

I prepared about 5 or 10 blocks in this way and then stacked them in order on a portable flat surface (the lid of a storage tub) and took them to the sewing machine. In the picture below, I have 5 blocks stacked for sewing.

The only variation from the pattern worth noting is with regard to pressing seams. The pattern uses definite lights and darks for these blocks, so pressing to the dark makes sense. Since my blocks are so random, I could not guarantee how the seams would work out. A sub-unit could be turned to go either way. So I pressed in one direction, and cut the sub-units; then if I needed a small unit to have the seam going the other direction, I just used my little iron and wool mat (which is next to the machine) and pressed it to work.

Yes, I could have pressed seams open, but I didn't want to take the time to do that. My method was great for nesting seams. If I were to make more blocks like this for another quilt, I would do it the same way.

And above is my stack of completed blocks. I am ready for snowball making. Yay!

Let me show you one block that somehow ended up with an extra row - I was not paying attention to my system. Instead, I was gabbing a bit too much when Sharon was here for sewing. *wink*

Yesterday, instead of working on Lucy, I finally attacked that overflowing tub of red fabrics that I've had sitting in the hallway. This task lead me to all sorts of dreaming of quilts to make, and I actually pulled a grouping that pleases me. It is entirely possible that an impromptu quilt is on the horizon. (who needs yearly goals??!)

Happy Quilting, Friends!