Project Update—16 Jul 2010

Followers may have guessed from my post about cutting half-square triangles, I made a bit of a math mistake when cutting out my pieces for the quilt blocks. Soldiering on, I decided it wasn’t the end of the world and I’d just deal with the slightly smaller blocks this would result in. It changes the grid of the blocks as well, just a little, but in same way across both blocks, so again, I’m fine with it.

Without further ado, the first two completed blocks:

I’ve made more progress since, but I’ve been trying to do assembly line sewing (attaching triangles to the corner squares first for all blocks, then triangles to adjacent trapezoid, then sewing those units together… etc.) rather than sewing entire blocks at a time. But, I thought it best to complete one of each first to see how they all go together.

I’m feeling optimistic about this venture. Or, at least the quilt top construction. I have my reservations about how the corner batik is a bit too heavy for the other fabrics, but not in a stop the project kind of way. I’ve put the fabrics all together on the computer, and it looks ok as a whole, so I have hope.

Dress

I decided to tackle a new project for a wedding at the end of the month: a dress to wear. I have some double-sided linen in my stash: ivory on one side, gray on the other (the ivory is kind of dirty colored, if that makes sense (since the back is gray and it bleeds through). Not anything at all like bridal ivory). I’m planning on using the ivory-ish side, I think. Maybe if I get really adventurous I’ll make the dress reversible. It’s lightweight and perfect for a summer backyard wedding. I’m going to use Simplicity 3877, doing a bit of combining using the neckline of A/B, with the sleeves of D. (See sketch). I’m still undecided about length, and am leaning toward the higher just-under knee rather than calf-length. I love the style. It’s very similar to my go-to semi-causal black dress (purchased, not made).

Baby Quilt

The project that got this quilting bug all started. I have all the fabric, and started cutting a bit out. It’s on hold until after the wedding quilt. The baby’s coming in Nov., so I should have plenty of time.

Middle-class Elizabethan

Plans still exist to go to the Fest, on the wine tasting weekend (mid Aug.), but I think dressing up has been ditched. Which is good, because I’m still only about 3/4 of the way through a shift and have done nothing for the rest of the project. I do plan on continuing it, perhaps for next year, perhaps for another festival elsewhere. In cased you missed what I’ve posted, see part one and part two.

Linen Pants

I have some navy blue medium-weight linen that I purchased with the intent to make pants. I made a muslin using Butterick B4811, but I’m not sure that I like how they fit my body type, so this is sort of on hold. I have enough of the fabric to make at least two pairs of pants. I’ll probably end up finishing the Butterick ones once I fix the fitting, but I also picked up Simplicity 2371 for the shirts, and am considering making the pants, exchanging the elastic for a drawstring. Who knows when I’ll get around to this. It’s pretty low on my list of priorities.

Do you start a million projects at once, too? What are you working on?