Borders on Easy Street

The borders are ON my Easy Street quilt! Lisa found me the perfect purple batik to use as the inner border, and I had a lovely print of ginkgo leaves that worked perfectly, even to the slight hint of purple that coordinates with the scraps I used:

Ginkgo Leaf Woodland Mist, from Northcott's Stonehenge line

Voila! Now, to get this monster quilted...I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for any "Finished" photos anytime soon, Faithful Readers...

A big finish!!

Easy Street: DONE. I owe it all to our viral contamination and subsequent quarantine. My goal for yesterday was to assemble the nine setting blocks, but once those were done, I decided to start stitching the rows together so I would have less to do today...and when that was done, I decided to sew just two of the rows together to get that out of the way...and then two more...and before I knew it, the whole quilt was in two big chunks. I left it like that overnight (my eyes gave out), then this morning -- after an insane fit of kitchen scrubbery that left me exhausted but with sparkling clean cabinetry -- I pulled those two chunks down and stitched them together.

Main block.

Setting block.

The whole shebang!

Despite its immense size, I think this still needs a simple border. I am really impressed with how Bonnie managed to break this huge project into manageable chunks. If I had seen it completed, I would NEVER have chosen to make this. There is a slight possibility that someday I may even make this again, using the vibrant colors that she suggested in the first place.

And tomorrow, I am re-entering the world!!!!!!!!!!

Easy Street progress

Still stuck in the house with sick boys. One now has a prescription for bronchitis, the other was treated for dehydration. Next time that one gets a cold, I will be a HAWK about watching him drink, whether he likes it or not. After a mere 400 mL of saline IV, he is starting to look like his old chipper self again.

So, with the quarantine still underway, I've been getting lots of sewing done. Here's my progress on Easy Street. The 16 main blocks are done and connected to the setting triangles. The remaining 8 alternate blocks are already sewn into rows, which I should be able to get together tomorrow during the first batch of NFL playoff games. Oh yeah, I am ready for some football! I could have this monster finished before the link-up on Monday!

Cruisin' down Easy Street

Another day of quarantine, another day of nonstop stitchery. I spoke to a nurse at our pediatrician's office, and she confirmed that there is just a brutally long-lasting cough virus wreaking havoc on the state, so we will just continue dosing the boys with OTC meds, herbal teas, honey, and rest. At least there's nothing serious to worry about, and I can feel less guilt about spending so much time in front of my sewing machine.

I have now finished assembling all of the corner and setting triangles for the Easy Street quilt, and I have finished a few of the blocks. I did one of each type just to make sure I was doing them right, then two more of the main block so I could assemble one full corner. At this point, I'm tired of working with these fussy little pieces. I'm putting it away for a while so I can do something brighter and with bigger pieces: instant gratification. When I get it out again, I'll work in true chain-piecing mode, so it will all go together at once.

Primary block (close-up)

I don't think I have ever assembled a quilt on point like this before. Bonnie's directions have made it very easy.

Corner and setting triangles: 84 inches is a really big quilt!

The contrast in these fabrics is subtle, which is not my normal style, but the quilt is turning out to be very pretty; it looks like natural colored marble tiling.

One finished corner!

Easy Street Mystery: Last Clue

Bonnie Hunter posted the final installment of her Easy Street mystery quilt this morning. It's going to take a lot of stitching to get all these three-inch units into a 84" quilt top, but I'm already going strong (thanks to the continuing Sycknesse). Here are the three choices of fabric that auditioned this morning as the third color:

I love this bright coppery fabric, but I think it's a little too bold with the dusky greens and purples.

This one looks like fire or lava. I have been wavering between old golds and  dark reddish-oranges, so I thought this one might fit the bill, but it's also too brassy with the other colors.

Here we go! This one is a much more subdued shade, like copper that's starting to oxidize, with hints of really dark olivey yellow and rust swirling together. Hard to describe, but it's just the right degree of muted to work here...and I think it has the feel of the Tuscan sunset that I was hoping for.

Easy Street mystery: Week 4

I wasn't in love with these when I first finished them, because the colors seemed to be blending together too much. Now that I have looked at them in actual sunlight, however, they're not so bad. I like the dark, swampy colors...I keep (mentally) using the word "murky" to describe what I'm going for. I need to pick my third color at this point, though; I haven't yet cut those squares for the fourth week. What should I use? Golds? Oranges? Chocolate browns? Maybe even (gulp) smoky blues?

Erratum: In my haste to calculate percentages, I was a little off last week because I failed to consider the half-square size of the flying geese. I think the correct figure is that we have now assembled or cut 66% of the units for this quilt. (for those of you who like the numbers...LOL!)

Easy Street: Part 1

With all of my copious spare time, I am making a mystery quilt from Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville blog. She calls it "Easy Street" and claims it will be "less intense" than previous mysteries that she has offered. Sounds vaguely ominous, but tempting enough to dive in.

Although I absolutely love the colors she picked for this quilt (lime, turquoise, purple!!), I don't think I have enough to do an entire huge quilt in those colors. Instead, I chose a brown print that has been percolating up through my stash for several years. I have always loved this one, and it seemed like a good neutral to replace the grey in the Easy Street pattern.

The first set of directions was to make 194 four-patch units. Instead of black-and-whites, which I can never keep in stock here, I chopped up a bunch of light neutrals for my background:

It took a day to cut, sew, press, and recut the strips. I went to bed on Saturday night with an array of 384 pairs all lined up on my desk. I started the morning by sewing these together and hanging them on the wall.

Wouldn't this make a pretty holiday garland?

Sometime during the first round of NFL games, I harnessed the power of the little fingers in my household to cut these strings apart.

Sweatshop workers. I don't think I need to worry about them organizing.

 I hooked up the embroidery machine to work on some Super Secret projects and got to ironing. Boring! ...but everything looks so pretty when it's done.

Pretty fabrics, pretty patterns

And here they all, Step 1 all done!

I'm hedging on the main colors to use in this quilt. I do love the standard autumnal hues, but I just did an autumn quilt. Is there such a thing as autumn overload? If so, I haven't gotten there yet. I'm considering emerald greens and sapphire blues, with dark chocolate as the accent color (replacing the purple in the original), but I will wait and see what the next directions have before I commit. I still might use the original brights in a smaller version once I have a better idea of how to scale it down.