Lots of EQ and not very much sewing

Well after I did my big push to finish my 3 x 6 bee blocks and then finish my projects for Modern Swappers, and did the paper pieced blocks for RIR bee and the Japanese Bee blocks, I needed a little break from sewing. I still have SOOO much left to do for this month: A charming mini quilt, finishing my doll quilt, Busy Bees blocks, Bee Liberated Blocks…oh it goes on.

But I needed a break from bending over the sewing machine and ironing board, so I’ve spent a couple of days becoming more familiar with Electric Quilt 7. I delved into the drawing portion of the program…going through many of their lessons and then breaking out on my own to draft up some different designs. I want to design my Blocks for Busy Bees there for instance. So there’s definitely been a learning curve with just trying to teach myself…and finding out what the limitations of the program are. In another world I was able to use Autocad, so I’m finding that I want it to do many of the things that program can do…and I’m still trying to figure out how to customize it so it makes more sense for my design aesthetic. But overall, it’s been very successful. And I’m glad to spend some more time getting to know the program. It really will be quite helpful in designing quilts and creating custom blocks!

But then today I thought that I should get back to sewing. After all, I do have that large list to do…Enter the sewing room…and what do I do? Organize.

Yep. If you know me at all, then you know that I need to organize before I do anything…and once I start it’s hard for me to find a place to stop. I’ve been throwing all my incoming blocks into piles, promising to organize them sometime and properly appreciate them. I had new fabric and old scraps floating around. Projects ready to be mailed that needed wrapping up and drawers that needed purging.

So I feel more organized, but honestly I still have a bunch of piles around the room because they are all different projects that I need to work on NOW. Of course, then I decided to really go through what is not the most important project, time wise, because it was creating the biggest mess…my Busy Bees triangle blocks made from Katie Jump Rope.

I have piles of scraps because I asked them to send me back the scraps…which I don’t always do, all mixed together with the blocks and the signature blocks. It was crazy. I could hardly tell if the fabric was scraps or had been sewn together into blocks. LOL. Hopefully I pulled all the actual blocks out. Well I gave them a good pressing and laid out what I have so far (I’m still waiting on at least three blocks) and photographed them to help get some input on what to do with these now.

Lots of EQ and not very much sewing
Beautiful aren’t they?

But I’m not sure what to do next. I don’t often find myself in this position, but I need help deciding how to put these together. I’m thinking of doing setting blocks that shows off the Katie Jump Rope Fabric and creates more triangles. I’m not sure that I want to use much if any more khaki. In fact it may make the bee blocks more of a feature if they are the only blocks to use khaki. So I’m open to another color solid or none at all or whatever. I don’t have an overall size in mind…so this can be a twin sized or larger quilt.

Tell me what you think!!

4 thoughts on “Lots of EQ and not very much sewing”

  1. What about a thin white border around them all (also helps to make sure they're the same size) then sash them in one of the KJR colors in a solid? I would pick the darker blue, but that's just b/c I love blue. Actually, I'm doing this with my bee blocks b/c they are all so different and colorful that I needed a way to showcase them, so I thought a thin white border would help frame and unify the group.

  2. Love the blocks. I am like you and need to organize. I have noticed I get a lot more done in my room is clean and tidy. A messy room just does not give me any motivation at all.
    I love your blocks, they turned out great! You can always use a gray to sash them in.

  3. Holy Cow your list made my head spin…I just THOUGHT I had a lot on my plate!

    Like you I have to be organized to get anything done. Messes give me a headache! I bought 1 of those plastic storage cabinets from Walmart and I store all my unfinished projects so I can't see them…

    As for ideas for putting your top together, If it were me I would choose my favorite fabric and add a border around each block. If it were OR I might even sash them with the Khaki? But I love that color 🙂

  4. Thank you to my faithful readers! LOL. I can always count on you guys to have a word of advice or encouragement for me. There's been some interesting feedback on this picture on flickr too on how to connect these. Everyone has a different opinion.

    Right now my favorite idea is to do a sashing made of the KJR in equilateral triangles pieced directly together. Maybe throw in the occasional pieced triangle to add the khaki back in and use up some of the smaller scraps.

    But there's this curious idea of off setting the blocks which intrigues me…

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