to chop, or not to chop?

That is the question. Do I leave my stacked coins project gingham quilt as is, or do I chop it up into blocks, rearrange and create something more complex? I'd love some input to help me decide.

Basically, I have a finished, king-sized stacked coins quilt (upper left photo) that I can either A) leave as is and baste, quilt then bind or B) chop up into blocks per cutting diagram (upper right photo) leaving me with two different types of blocks which could then be turned into two different quilts or layouts (ex: bottom two photos).

The diagram on the upper right is just a paper mock-up I made in paint on the computer, which I cut up and used to create those layouts pictured in the bottom two photos. As of right now, the top is still in tact and I'm just feeling out my options.

The lazy practical side of me says leave it alone and call it good. Why bother? It's pretty the way it is. The mad scientist side of me says chop away and experiment. Knowing I could do something more with it drives me crazy and I think it would be fun (or painful, who knows?!) to play around some more.

Am I insane for even considering such a ludicrous thing to do to a quilt? Feel free to talk me out of it. I've got plenty of other projects to work on, regardless.

far flung bee + project gingham

My very first quilting bee started this month! Some Instagram buddies and I began throwing ideas around a while back, but now we're actually doing it and I'm super stoked. We're calling it the Far Flung Bee because we live all over the globe, and there's six of us so we'll each be making two blocks a month, for six months. Cool, eh?

broken dishes bee blocks

Here's a post by Elizabeth Hartman that explains virtual quilting bees in case you aren't all that familiar with them. I came up with a bit of a twist for ours, though. We each chose the type of block we wanted, but instead of one person having all twelve blocks made for them in one month, we each make two and receive two. So this month I made two broken dishes blocks for Deb and I'll receive two wonky house blocks from Essie. The last month of the bee each member makes two blocks for themselves.

swap charms on left, my picks on right

To make Deb's broken dishes blocks, I pulled four bright prints from my stash and four gray charms from the stack I received through the Neutral and Solids Charm Swap hosted by Annaliese @The Pewter Acorn. This was my first charm swap, and I chose to send a teal bella solid and a slate/white crosshatch (both on right) that I picked up from my LQS.

mom's old riccar

As for Project Gingham, it's been a bit of a struggle. I kind of rushed into an idea I had without really thinking it through too much. First I thought I'd use a standard sheet of computer paper with a section six inches wide running diagonally from corner to corner. I was going to foundation paper piece strips of ginghams within those strips, then add white on the two remaining opposite corners.

i haven't gotten very far

In my mind, it would have been a variation on this quilt I had seen on Alex's blog. So I went crazy cutting random width strips from my ginghams. But then I decided maybe there was a much more interesting and hopefully easier (im not so sure now) way of doing it. I made this mockup in paint (then drew the diagonal cutting marks on with pencil) a few weeks ago and had planned to go this route. Where I'd sew strips of stacked coins to strips of white, then slice and dice and end up with blocks for two different quilts.

cutting diagram

I've got plenty of gingham, I told myself. Only the green machine wasn't liking this process so I've finally switched to my mother's Riccar, which is only 30 years old... and it's sewing like a dream. So there you have it. The coffee just finished brewing and I'm about to go make serious headway on project gingham. Wish me luck!

rockin' weekend recap - it's a doozy

Hey there. It's been busy over here, but I had so much fun in the last few days and thought I'd share some highlights. It all started when I finally got the motivation to put up a rad design wall in the new sewing room.

rad new design wall

You can't hardly tell from the photo, but it's pieced together and covers the whole entire wall. I know, not really necessary, but I had enough material. So why not go overboard?

Stats:
2 30x60in sheets of 1/2 in thick white foam board (which we cut in half at the store so it would fit in the car)
1 king sized 100% polyester batting (cotton batting has an ivory color to it, I wanted white)
3M adhesive strips for hanging

All in all it took an evening and about 30 bucks. I could have simply tacked some batting to the wall like I had before in the dining room, but this looks much better and I deserve the very best :P

project gingham, underway

I was trying to get as much done on my gingham quilt before leaving town for the weekend, but pressing seams open sure is tedious. I had reasons for doing it that way, but now I'm thinking it's a waste of time. Especially with the Project Gingham deadline fast approaching! Someone needs to hurry the heck up, already.

windows down, needle in hand

We then skipped town and headed to my future in-laws' place for the weekend. Did I forget to mention that the boy and I are getting married? Oops. Like I said, lots going on over here. Anyways, I brought along my first ever EPP project, these hexie flowers which I started back in January and am now bordering to make big hexagons.

uh oh, where are you taking me?!

What's super fun about the boy is how spontaneous and awesome he is. There I was, happy to sit and stitch and devour peach cobbler with his mom on the back patio, when suddenly we're headed off to a hillbilly pasture party involving lots of food, beer, live music (the boy and his friend sang folk rock songs, swoon!) loud mouths and laughter. Good times all around.

a mud-splattered Lucy-goose

Of course the dog was loving every moment of this adventure, too. We ended up camping out on a sandbar off the river, complete with tents and fishing poles and Sam Adams. Too much fun, really. But the next day was over a 100 degrees and the AC went out, so not everything was perfect. I did manage to get three blocks finished during stolen moments at the house or in the car. This one is my favorite.

a flower burst hexagon

I've decided to name it a flower burst hexie block, and while I'm sure it's been done before I can't find anyone to credit, so that's what I'm calling it. And if you're on instagram, I'm using #projectflowerbursthexie to tag all my photos so they can be in one place. And if you're doing Project Gingham with us, we're using #projectgingham to keep track of our progress. I also made a Project Gingham Flickr group, too!

I'm linking up with Quilt Story today for Fabric Tuesday. Head over and check out what else is there!

Ok that's it. Phew. Long post. Also my 100th in just over a year. I've come a long way since the very first. Thanks for sticking with me!