Along with the Harmonic Convergence block I shared last Monday, the craft day back on September 17 was very good in that it finally ground the rust off my Sashed Squares project!
While my boyfriend was diving into the arithmetic of How Much Fabric He Would Need to Make A Quilt With Certain Japanese Blocks, I was assessing the size of my HSTs, squaring up some and deciding that others could past muster as-is.
For the sake of making progress, I grabbed some that were nice 4″ squares and actually assembled them. That Saturday, I finished my first square diamond block; the next day, I started a couple more and cut more gray squares for the corners. Turns out I was very low on that particular gray fabric, so I had to piece the remaining squares! But all’s well that ends well.
Once I’d pieced all 9 blocks, it was time to figure out sashing and corner stones. There’s so little tonal contrast between the flowered square diamonds and their grey background that I decided to add a bit of pop with bright green batik corners.
I had just enough cream fabric to make 24 pieces of sashing 3.5 inches wide, and initially figured I’d pin them on the sides of each block. The thought was to make rows of 3 sashed blocks, then a strip of sashing/corner stones in between, and thus attach 3 sashed strips.
But then I ran out of sashing strips! This made me realize that if one column of blocks had horizontal sashing…the next block would not need it. I’d just have to press it and attach the block to the existing sashing.
This is about how I ended up piecing it in the end: some full blocks, some half-sashed, the center block just fitting in between everything else.
With a completed top, it became possible to figure out how much backing fabric I’d need: the top is 54″ square, and having a few inches all around is generally wise. I had a long chunk of the hydrangea fabric that I’d always planned to be most of the back – but as it’s 41″ wide, it needed some supplementation. I spent a while Sunday afternoon measuring fabric, measuring it again, writing notes, and adding in seam allowances. Several different greens came out of my stash, felt my scrutiny, and went back into their stash spot.
Checking with a couple friends, I settled on this light green grunge and this very pale pink paisley. By the time it’s all quilted, the paisley might not even appear – it might be trimmed off before the binding’s put on. We shall see!
To make things easier for my future self, I’m assembling the backing AND binding before I do any basting; that way I don’t have to worry about piecing strips when I’ve finished the quilting part.
Onward and upward!
Joy Verbs 