Soon after I blogged about joining the Tokyo Subway Map QAL, I had one of those, "what was I thinking?" moments. I never cut all the fabrics for a quilt before sewing and I hated the idea of spending all that time doing nothing but cutting. While I confess that I am going to cheat a little, the quilt, as designed, is made from 1600 squares cut from 12 colors plus black and white.Playing around with the very scrappy Tulip blocks gave me an idea and a way to break up all that cutting ... and reward myself for slogging through it.
As I was going through my scrap bins, I pulled scraps large enough for either project, and after I cut everything I could from the scraps in one color, I took a break and sewed 4 tulip blocks in that color.
Now I have all the colored squares cut (and about half the black-on-black squares I'll need) AND I've made 25 Tulip blocks, enough for a throw-sized quilt.
In case you missed it in an earlier blog post, the Tulip block is this month's pattern for the Block Lotto and you can find the link to the pattern in this post on Blocklotto.com, and there's a badge in the sidebar of this blog that will take you to the details for the Tokyo Subway Map Quilt-along.
I picked up some a white-on-white print for the background and I am itching to start making Tokyo Subway Map blocks ... but maybe I should use that as the reward for getting the Tulip blocks sewn into a top and keep the symbiosis going to get both projects closer to "done, done."
I am joining the list for WIP Wednesday with these two projects.
6 comments:
Yikers--all that cutting--you ARE so brave. I can no longer rotary cut much so am relying on GO! BABY for my strips and squares and triangles....still fun, though...lovely tulip blocks (I just have to figure out alternate sizes using my cutter dies) hugs, Julierose
FYI, I used the Go Baby to cut the 2 1/2 inch squares and half-square triangles for the tulip blocks. I am using 3 inch squares for the Tokyo Subway Map and those I did cut by hand–using an ergonomic rotary cutter helps me A LOT.
That is an extreme amount of cutting! Watch out, you might be featured in one of those reality show if you keep this up. lol That would be a dull show to watch someone doing that much cutting. However, there is Golf on TV. Good idea to reward yourself.
LOL I love the switch on what's the leader-ender. That's a great way to do the cutting and the blocks.
I've read that cutting everything at one time, then sewing all at one time, and then ironing all at the same can save you just that... time, but I have to admit that I might fall into the same category as you and need to have a change of scenery while workin on various projects. These tulip blocks look great and I love how scrappy they are.
Bravo, Sophie! You found a way to have some fun while monotonously cutting and cutting fabric! Love the tulip blocks. Great colors!
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