Stymied .... so a new project

first, a strange digression .... how can it be that I am able to pull at least 15 lbs of cat fur out of my keyboard and the cat doesn't get any smaller??? One of the true mysteries of the world and I have given up trying to solve it.

My *plan* had been to be quilting on Lizzie until my pile of tops was depleted. I was making great headway until this latest quilt. ::sigh:: I ran out of the King Tut variegated thread I was using. aarrghhh. I immediately placed an online order with Superior and they were REALLY fast in processing it. Now it's in the US Post Office's hands. I'm hoping it comes in today's mail ... if not I will need to wait until *Tuesday* since Monday is Labor Day ... no mail. ::sigh::

There is a TV in my sewing room. My *sewing room* is the de facto family room ... the girls have joined me to do their homework, Mr. Pirate has taken over not only a corner of the room for his laptop but I (since I just love the guy so much) have *cleared off a shelf* of my bookcase so he can put his computer gear there instead of on the floor. While it is really nice to have the family bonding ::chuckle:: all in one room ... but it's REALLY CROWDED.

Anyway, back to the TV ... in the evening, I like to be piecing something whilst watching TV (with whoever of the family is in residence at the time). Since my "plan" had been to be quilting, I don't HAVE a current piecing project. Now that my quilting is on hiatus until my thread arrives, I was at loose ends. I simply can NOT *just* watch TV; that would drive me nuts.

So, I rummaged around my sewing area and rediscovered some equilateral triangles that I had cut with my previously rediscovered newest bestest specialty ruler, Quilt in a Day's "Triangle in a Square". Gosh, this ruler set is AWESOME. It makes creating two different sizes of an equilateral triangle in a square block *effortless*. I highly recommend it. Note: this is not a Flying Geese ruler; these triangles are equilateral ones.

Still using the "Triangle in a Square" ruler set, I cut the side triangles and made 4-1/2" (unfinished) square blocks.

I had a LOT of blue and yellow triangles.  I used plain muslin for the side triangles.

I made a LOT of triangle blocks.

From my internet wanderings, I came across a Rail Fence (kinda/sorta) layout with Flying Geese.  I have no idea where I saw this picture, so I can't give you a link for it ... but I'm sure you can figure it out.  With that image in my head, I sewed 3 triangle blocks together.

To make the layout more visually effective, I am trying to keep all the triangles in the strip the same fabric.

I hope that I have enough to make the entire quilt top ... whatever size it turns out to be. :-)


As you might remember a Rail Fence layout takes the blocks and orients them alternately vertically and horizontally.  The key factor being that the blocks need to be *square*. 

Do these strips look square to you?  Of course not.

The 3 triangle blocks together are 12-1/2" unfinished .. which will be a nice size block.  But, I need 8" more of width to create that 12" finished block.  Happily, 8" is (2) pieces of 4" ... so all I need to do is put a 4" strip on either side of the triangle strip and I will have my 12-1/2" square.  But, using a single 4" strip will look really, really boring.  A strip set would look better.

Soooo .. what COLORS would look best with the yellow and blue triangle blocks?  More importantly, what colors do I *already have* in my stash that I can use?? 

Black would set it off nicely, but that's really stark.  White isn't enough contrast to the muslin.  Green would work. 

Digging through my green stash, I hauled out a glittery green Christmas tree remnant  (very long and skinny) and yardage of a deeper batik-type print. 

2-1/2" strips were cut from each and sewn into strip sets.  The strip sets were sub-cut into 12-1/2" sections. 

One section was sewn to each side of the triangle block strip.  This made the 12-1/2" unfinished block I needed for the Rail Fence layout.

Here's what I have so far ... it's obviously a work in progress.

The "plan" is to alternate yellow and blue blocks.  I have no idea how many blocks I will be able to make with the fabrics that I have; therefore I have no idea how big the resulting top will be  ... I'll need to wait and see.  I'm rather thinking it will end up a throw size.

I'm not sure if I will donate this to "my" charity or if I will keep it for family use or if I will gift it.

I sure can't QUILT it until the quilt that's *on* Lizzie gets done!  :-)


And that's what I'm doing this weekend.  :-)