Thursday, July 21, 2011

36-patches & Paul

Amanda (CrazyMom) is hosting a 36-patch quilt along, and (like Candace - WraggedyPatches), I figured......"why not??!?" ;0)

Amanda's directions call for 8" wide fabric pieces......But I was more interested in making the blocks from strips from this collection from Connecting Threads; already organized in strip combos here..... Sadly, though....one 2.5" strip isn't long enough to produce the 18-like colored squares. :0( HOWEVER, I wasn't going to let 2.5" regulations of the quilt-along hold me back.

Instead, I did some quick calculations, and realized that if I cut the strips down to 2.25", I would be able to create a complete block. So, that's what I did ;0)

Choosing two strips, and piecing them length-wise, I was able to subcut them into 20 twosies (2.25" wide), even though I only needed 18 twosies for the block. SO, with a little trimming down, I'm able to make one 11" (unfinished) 36-patch and one 4" (unfinished) 4-patch. These measurements don't play nicely with much of anything......except themselves! So, the game plan is to make up all the 36-patches and use the 4-patches as possible cornerstones with sashing? Or maybe the 4-patches will appear in a border??

Paul is home again today and tomorrow. This morning, he was peeking (more like peering?) at his blueberry bushes. I couldn't resist trying to get a picture of him with his "gardening" hat.

He must enjoy his limelight on my blog, because he was all smiles when he actually saw me with the camera! :0) {{Truth be known, Nancy---I think he likes those "stud muffin" comments **wink**}}

And I DID get my 8 miles in this morning after dropping the girls off at school. The humidity has finally broken for the most part; still HOT due to the cloudless sky, BUT the humidity is out of the air and there is a nice breeze, making the outdoors quite bearable today. So...yeah....8 miles this AM; it wasn't too bad. I took my share of walks again, and enjoyed quite a bit of shade for the first 4 miles.

As for now, we're enjoying a relaxing afternoon. The girls are watching Narnia (Prince Caspian), Paul is browsing the Internet for some fishing "stuff," and I will be either (a) putting my feet up with one of my Kindle books OR (b) writing the final portion of instructions for Splendidly Marching Along.

{{Three Hours Later}}
Or how 'bout reading on the Kindle for 20 minutes, and then taking a 2-hour nap?
;0)

Happy Thursday!

4 comments:

scraphappy said...

Nice little bit of math that lets you use your existing strips for the quilt along. Those extra four patches will offer lots of design possabilities. So good that you are able to use those math skills even on vacation.
Paul is quite a stud muffin in his gardening hat. Let him know we all enjoyed the "eye candy";)

Nancy said...

Any man that wears that hat AND talks to blueberry bushes... STUD MUFFIN ... a 10 in my book :o)

Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

Naps are good!!! ( i did that too accidentally yesterday!)

Love the photos of your house on a hill - gorgeous!

And your blocks - those are great! I just printed out her instructions.... I think I might take the plunge LOL

Candace said...

Your fabrics for the 36 patches look great and I'm really impressed with your calculations, wish I'd thought of it. You'll have to do a DH Calendar for the year and show him you really appreciate his posing. Not everyone has a 'stud muffin'.