100 Baskets

At last I have finished the baskets. Starting this quilt so many weeks ago, in early July, I had no idea that I would be so slow at finishing them, and I really dragged through those middle ones - the 40s, the 50s, the 60s - they took forever. As I neared 75, the end finally seemed attainable, and I plodded on. At 85 or so, I realized that I did not have enough parts cut out, so that slowed me further.

This afternoon, I stitched #s 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99 and 100. Whew!

Here's a couple of pictures marking the milestone. They are stacked in piles of 10. At first, I had them in a certain order, as there are 3 variations of baskets, but now they are mostly randomly stacked.

I have some decisions to make before moving on to sashing these baskets into rows. First, I have very little of the white background fabric remaining, so what to do?

One option is to take my bit of white and shop for more, hoping that I can find something to match.

Another option is to sash with some of my Roman Holiday jelly rolls. I have a full jelly roll and a half of another one. The pattern calls for very narrow sashing - 1.25 inches. So I could cut the jelly roll strips in half. Easy to do, and I know I'd have plenty. But the pattern calls for using the neutral; will I be happy with colorful sashing? Since it's RH, probably.

A third option is to dig into my stash of whites and off-whites to see if something I already own would suitably substitute. I will probably dig around later today to see what I can find.

Are you wondering about the occasional printed neutral? I began this quilt using my Roman Holiday scraps from an earlier project and a more recent Etsy-purchased charm pack. If I did not use the lights from the charm pack, what else would I do with them? A lot of light bits with no darker colors would be a senseless waste of Roman Holiday! So I decided that they could be used in the basket HSTs and would show up randomly throughout the baskets and, ultimately, all around the quilt.

I have not had a particularly regular presence here in blog-land, but believe me, I have been stitching. And now that I have at last finished the baskets, perhaps I can show you some variety in my content. Variety has been totally absent while making these 100 baskets. Gosh, I'm glad to have them done!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

40 Baskets

My basket block production is moving right along. I now have 40 made, with 60 yet to go. It seems like I am really slow at doing these, but if I can just stay steady at them, they will eventually all be done. I am certainly not going to quit! The pace is what I can handle at this time. If I can do more, I will.

Here are some shots of the growing stack of baskets.

I do enjoy making them. I press after each step, so that slows down production. I also don't really do strip piecing as I am laying out an entire little basket one at a time so that I am sure the triangles are all going in the right direction. That slows things down, as well.

I do love that I have three varieties of baskets going here, and I change them up every so often to keep things interesting. I am keeping a tally, as well, on how many of each basket I have made, although what difference it would make in the long run doesn't really seem like it would matter. Just so long as I end up with 100 baskets, I will be fine with the random variety.

Short and sweet today, Peeps! I have the card girls coming over tonight. I need to get to the store and make my final preparations. Tomorrow morning we have quilting at Becky's and after that I will be going to Circleville for the Good Time Quilters Quilt Show. It is always a delightful show with lots of fun stuff to see and buy.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Three Basket Versions

Picnic at Daybreak, the current pattern I am making, requires 100 basket blocks made three different ways. This has been fun seeing them take shape. I will be short and sweet today, and just get on with showing you the three versions. Scroll back to yesterday's post to see the pattern.

Block 1 has the fewest HSTs. Isn't it pretty in pale blue?

All my baskets are going to have either green or brown bottoms - the large HST. The small HSTs will be all the other colors in the Roman Holiday line.

Block 2, below, has one more HST added. In the example pictured, I tried using all yellow prints in the basket. I like this, but I don't intend to be "planned" in making all these blocks.

Block 3 has yet another HST added. I have made about 20 of this block so far. I really like this one. Heck, I should be honest - I like all of the combinations in all the versions! I guess with fabric this amazing, I just can't go wrong!

Did you notice the neutrals? I mostly have a wonderful Kona cotton cream-color for the background fabric, but a few of the neutrals from the Roman Holiday line were slipped into the HSTs and those will show up in random fashion throughout the quilt. I think when we see the big-picture quilt, it will make a lovely bit of added interest here and there.

I try to think like our grandmothers would have - they "made do." No fabric was wasted; substitutions were made out of necessity; and "close" was good enough. I did not want to waste the lighter fabrics from the line, so I am incorporating them into the small HSTs.

That's all for today, Peeps! We are off to see our daughters in Columbus, and then to a classic movie at the historic Ohio Theater - tonight's feature: A Streetcar Named Desire.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

A Cutting Frenzy

I'd like to think I am in the middle of a cutting frenzy, and perhaps by my normal standards, I am; however, I'm actually doing this in a rather slow and methodical way.

Yesterday's post referenced a quilt that we all have the option of working on together at our upcoming retreat at Canter's Cave. The quilt is called Best of All by Country Threads. Terry made hers awhile back, and when we all saw it, we loved it, and the idea was born to do a group-sew - make the same pattern with our own fabrics.

Terry unveiled her version of Best of All back in 2015, I believe. A group of us were at her house for a day of sewing. Jan suggested that we each make one and most of us agreed that it would be fun. Jan cut hers out almost immediately. I now have mine ready. Here are the fabrics I pulled.

Since each block is made individually, I wondered how I could best keep each block separated and organized. I tried using little baggies, but this became a problem because I would forget which parts I'd cut and which still needed to be cut and were enough of each piece cut -yada-yada-yada- I needed a different plan.

Because I'd just glued several hexies and POTC parts to cardstock/paper, I thought maybe a modified version of that method would work for these blocks, too. Here is a picture of how I ended up doing it. I didn't need glue, and I didn't lay out the entire block, but I did lay out approximately a quarter of a block so that each part of the block was in place. I stacked them in a box, one on top of the other, separating each with a sheet of paper.

 You can see that I've used a cardboard box from the grocer's; the can marks are visible under my first block.The box will be easily transported to the retreat. I will wrap it up somehow to keep all the parts where I want them. Weight them down, first, perhaps. Yes, this should work well.

This picture shows that several are stacked on top of that first block. It was a system that ended up working rather well, so I will probably use it again when I cut out this next quilt, called (I think) Baskets; it's a Kim Diehl quilt from her book Simple Abundance. Again, Terry has made this quilt, and it's a beauty.

So far, I have only pulled the fabrics; no cutting yet. Remember, I'm slow and methodical, you now. Below are my fabric choices for Baskets.

Gotta' get busy!

Happy Quilting, Friends!