What? Another WIP??

Helloweee! So I get a text from my number one fan yesterday, "Ya know, it's been like 2 weeks since you've done a blog post...." Really?? :) Who is my number one fan? My nephew. He literally is my number one fan, he was my very first follower. He also provides me with design consultation. He is an engineer. I like wonky. He lets me know if I have taken wonky a little too far! LOL I told him to write up a post and I would let him guest post. . . he thought I was joking. I wasn't. :) So #1 fan, here is your morning reading (you really should be working and not reading this young man!).

I'm going to let the pictures tell most of the story of this WIP . . . ummm, yeah, I started another top. . . What was I thinking?? I don't know, maybe I figured I whip this baby up and then get quilting . . . maybe I was avoiding actually starting to quilt the rose linen. . . maybe. . .

Remember this bundle? It was my first introduction to Oakshott's new ColourShotts.

Aren't they purty?? :)

They were staring at me. . . calling to me. . . I didn't have a plan. But they would not be ignored and neglected any longer. So I started looking through my file of quilt patterns. It's a big file. There's a lot there :) I wanted something that would use all of these great colors in one quilt. Kind of a tall order. Might be why they sat around for so long before I cut into them! I decided on this pattern.

"Spring" Free pattern by Valori Wells found of the RK web site.

BUT, I was going to make mine wider, so I could use up all of the fat eighths. I did the math, and decided that 1.5" strips would make the best use of the fat eights - and it did. I only had very slim slivers left. . . like barely a quarter inch on both sides. I had a LOT of strips. . . 

Side view - how awesome is that?? :) You can see the different colors in the warp and weft in this shot. Ahh, love this picture! OK, back to the story. After cutting the strips, I wasn't done, now to subcut them. I decided to cut three different lengths. Because these were cut from wider fabric, the fat eighths measured 27" and I must have been feeling a little over zealous. . . I ended up with this. . . 

That shouldn't take long to sew together right??? Yeah, I underestimated big time on how long that would take! There are 6 strips in each of those piles. . . 30 colors. . . I'll let you do the math ;)

I started sewing. . . and sewing. . . and realizing two things - a) this is going to take a lot longer than I thought and b) I can't do anything else until these strips are sewn together. . . so I kept sewing. 

And started to audition background fabric. . . and kept sewing....

Different background fabric. . . much better. Leftover pieces from Off Course. BUT. . . I am not liking how this is looking. At.All. Crap. This is only half of the strips. . . The next panel of strips was supposed to be all of the rest of the strips sewn together. . . what to do? Well, if you are slightly off kilter, like me, you start slashing and sewing. . . :) I needed to figure out what this was going to be when it grew up before I continued. So, I took several deep breaths and started cutting. . . and sewing . . and came up with this:

MUCH better!! It was at this point I decided to sew duplicate panels to these. I sewed the narrower one first. Cut it up, sewed it back together. Then sewed the wider one. As I was cutting the triangles for the second panel, I had a sinking feeling. . . these angles are not looking the same. . . but, being the impulsive person I am, I just kept cutting. . . flipped the triangles around and yes, should have listened to that little voice. . . the angles did not match up and therefore if sewn together the panel would have been veering off in different directions. Not.good. My design alteration (as if I had a design I was working with at this point LOL) was to add some fabric into the gap in two places. Then I would have enough length to chop some of the overlap in the other seams. . . I'm happy to report, it worked. The panel is straight. but now the triangles are not lining up as I had intended:

Bummer. That's pretty busy huh? :) My number one fan did not like. Said it made his eyes go crazy. Hmm. I like it! If I use this layout, I would add borders to either side. Time to start playing with alternative layouts. . . 

I kinda like that. . . BUT, what about this:

Like. But, not enough to sew it together :) It is currently on the design wall like this. I haven't decided which layout is going to win out. . . what do you think? I would love to see which layout wins the popular vote. OR, if you have suggestions for an alternative layout - please share!! I'm open to suggestions :)

I am in process of quilting the test quilt. That will likely be finished today or tomorrow. Then, I will baste the rose linen. It is completely marked. Wanna see? Of course you do! 

I know, it's hard to see but hopefully you can get a good idea of how this is going to look. I have the backing, I have thread, I have it marked. It is ready to go :)

Time to get back to quilting! I'll share some pictures of the back of the test quilt when I'm finished quilting. Keeping with my trend, the back could be the front. . . except with this one, the front is so darn cool, it's kind of hard to stop looking at it. Stay tuned, at the end of the first week of April, the pattern will launch and I'll participate in a blog hop and share it with you.

Linking up with Lorna for Let's Bee Social and Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday. Head over and check out all of the awesomeness shared at these great linky parties :)

Until next time, keep on quilting!! I know I will be ;)