Symbiotic Projects

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.

Tokyo Subway Map Quilt-Along

I was surfing blogs this morning and Celine mentioned on Espritpatch that there is a new Quilt-Along starting next month for Elizabeth Hartman's Tokyo Subway Map quilt.

Back in 2010, I followed along (and saved the directions) when Elizabeth shared the design as part of the original QAL, tucked it away and thought of it as a someday quilt.

The pattern as written is made from 1600 2-inch squares. I spent some time back then thinking about how I would change the dimensions and cheat the background, using larger squares and rectangles as much as possible.  Now that my scrap bins are filled or overflowing and with the support of other quilters who will be quilting along, maybe it's time to make a serious start on this quilt.

Click the QAL image above (and in my sidebar) or this link for details on Nina's blog, Nina with Freckles.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, here's a link to the pattern page and an image of this great, modern, scrappy quilt, inspired by the Tokyo subway map:

Do you have one of those someday quilts that you've seen online or at a show or in a show, saved the pattern and know that you WILL make it one day in the future?