with needle and thREAD, the in-progress edition

Slowly but surely,

the design that I shared with you Friday

I know, again with the blurry in-progress phone photo...

is turning into

this:

There is some trial and error involved, but I think it's turning out well.

And T is happy with it - which, really, is all that matters.

I probably should have taken the time to figure out templates and such before I started.

What I did, though (and, for the most part, it's working okay) 

is figure out how big of a square I could get from my fabric, without any waste width-wise.

(14 1/2 inches)

From there, I am sub-cutting smaller squares (the 14 1/2 in square cut in half, and in half again)

and triangles (again - square cut in half - on the diagonal, and sometimes, in half again).

Each seam reduces the size of the resulting square.

So, after making the 4 corner blocks (being easy ones ;-)

I made one of the blocks with the most seams, which then told me what size my finished blocks could be.

(13 inches)

I've run into a smidge of a problem with my rectangle blocks being a bit off, but I think I've figured out the fix.

I'm kinda torn on the batting.

I think this quilt wants to be fluffier than what I normally make; 

the huge blocks kinda call for a more comforter-ish feel.

I'm still trying to talk myself into using what I have.

(which would probably be easier to quilt...)

We'll see who wins - me, or the quilt...

~

In the reading department:

I checked out another Kate Morton book. 

I'm not terribly far in, but I think it will be better than Riverton House, 

but not as good as The Forgotten Garden (which was really good ;-)

Which, I suppose makes sense; an author should get better with each book...

I'm also s l o w l y plodding through the habit book - only because it came so highly recommended,

and I still have The Everlasting Meal for another week and a half, so I will try to get something valuable out of it, 

as it, too,  seems to be well liked by people who eat similarly to our family.

I am finding (which I already knew) that I am not like the masses.

Also in the reading department,

we were able to snag a few of our favorite picture books:

Duck on a Bike, Daisy and the Beastie, Farmer Brown Shears his Sheep,

and a new-to-us book that I (although I'm not sure about the kids) fell in love with, There is a Place.

Once again, I'm linking with Elizabeth's.

Something I didn't tell ya'll last week... those jammies that I sewed up for a friend?

Elizabeth was the friend.

I hesitated posting about it here - I'm not one to toot my own horn.

Well.

That's not entirely true;

I love to toot and tell ya'll about my sewing adventures,

but when it comes to my being nice and all, I usually keep quiet about it.

(I know. You're thinking 'when?!?' ~ what can I say, I do a lot of nice things ;-) 

Anyways. 

If you want to read my (hastily and poorly written) guest post last week, and see the nice things people said, you'll need to go to this post. 

And if you want to see the girls in their nightgowns (and you should; they are so sweet and happy!) visit this one.