Saturday, February 01, 2014

144 James River Blues Blocks

144 blocks done!

I tell you, doing scrappy from the blue Civil War pieces and scraps is not for the faint of heart! 

But they're done.  All 144 of them.  Or 145.  I get a different number every time I count, so I quit counting!





I'm calling this done for now.  I made a decision to package this up to take with me when I go home this summer.  I don't have a design wall here, but I have empty floor space there where I can lay them out.  It will be the perfect project. 

But just in case I've counted wrong - again - I'll package up enough blue scraps and shirtings to make a block or two if/when I come up short.

Whodathunk counting to 144 would be so hard!



P.S.  My Yahoo email is all messed up.  I reply and I don't know whether they're going or not.  I'll be getting a new email shortly.  I apologize if you haven't heard from me.  Please know that I read and appreciate every single comment!

19 comments:

Kyle said...

Yeah! What a great accomplishment. The fabrics look great and you're smart to take some pieces with you.

Suzy said...

They look great! You might want to pin them together in groups of ten. Then you won't have to keep recounting them. :o)

Kate said...

Ditto Suzy! Count to ten, safety pin them together, move on to the next ten. I'm pretty sure I can't count higher than ten, much less 144!

Vicky said...

I had them in groups of 25. That's where I messed up!!!

Sandie @ crazy'boutquilts said...

Whoohoo! Way to sew!! It is going to be a gorgeous quilt!

Nini said...

Can't wait to see it done! I've now got it stuck in the back of my head, as something to play with, but I'm thinking red and white. Hhhmmmmm.....

pdudgeon said...

Like you i usually group in multiples of 10 or so as well. but when a quilt calls for making such a large number of repeat blocks, i find it easier to group the repeat blocks in multiples of how many total blocks i have to make.
e.g. Like for your "Hurrah" quilt, i would count the number of blocks in the quilt that are made with just the HST's.(in this case there would be 6 blocks; everything else is a stripe!) and then I count the number of individual HST's needed to make a single block. (let's say 25)
So in order to keep organized and to know where i am at any given time, i start by sewing just 25 HST's; just enough to make one block.
i count that amount once, clip them togther, and then go on to sew the HST's for the next block.
By making the multiple blocks this way i can judge how long it takes me to make a block, and then i can space my quilting work load out so that i don't get overwhelmed and lost in the production.
It's like eating a whale--the thought of eating a whale is overwhelming, if you just think of eating the whole whale. But if you eat a whale just one bit at a time, it's much easier to visualize eating that last bite.

dortha said...

I just know it is going to be a lovely quilt. I am making the same pattern totally scrappy and I have counted and recounted and decided to start putting it together and if I wind up short I can make a few more. We know scraps have a way of multiplying. As I was piecing the blocks I thought I would like to do a planned scrappy one, so I look forward to seeing yours finished. So glad you got to sew and sorry it is such a long post.

Carol said...

That's awesome Vicky. Scrappy is so cute all sewn together but can take more time. Yeah for getting stuff done.

mascanlon said...

Great blogs vicky! I love the scrappy blues and think it was worth the extra work. I know, easy for me to say!

Dee said...

That's a big undertaking. Congratulations on finishing them all. Hopefully the rest of the quilt goes together smoothly when you get back to it!

Carol said...

Love your blocks! Everyone beat me to the suggestion about pinning the blocks in groups of 10...helps!

Sue Daurio said...

Love the blocks, and so many of them.

Teri said...

Beautiful blocks. I can never count correctly either. I always pin bundles of 10 so I don't have to do it more than once.

Gayle Bong said...

Glad I am not the only one that has trouble counting. It does sound like a good project to pack and take along. I am in to making my own kits. I guess this would qualify.

Diane said...

You are not the only one who is counting challenged. LOL I usually count a stack of 10 and pin them together so I don't have to count them again. When I was making Pineapple Crazy I kept getting a different number. Even with them pinned together and I only needed 20 more...I was still one off! But at least it was one too many instead of one too few.

Deanie said...

I'm lovin the look of these blocks and the fabric choice. Can't wait to see it completed. Very nice!

Kona Bay Fabrics Blog said...

Happy Anniversary and thanks for sharing:)

Sarah said...

My counting often differs by 1 when large numbers are being counted too. I try to count in groups of ten too. I love the Jamestown landing quilt. Yours is going to look brilliant. I love your indigo blues.