Scrappy Long Time Gone Piecing Progress

I'm  looking back at my Instagram posts to see when I began to piece this quilt -- looks like I posted my first finished block on March 19.  Here I am, almost 4 months down the calendar and still on schedule!?!  I sorted out all the blocks by "sections" to be sure I had everything finished.  I didn't even need the "amnesty" week the organizers allowed for catching up with the block piecing!!

Once I was sure I had everything, I began organizing the checkerboard fill-ins sections and assembling the six sections of the top.  Sorting through the leftovers from sixteen weeks of piecing provided most of the strips needed for the checkerboards and helped clear off the cutting table.

My strip sets were various lengths which helped keep everything scrappy.

Once the strips sets were pressed, I paired them up for quick cutting by laying them right sides together with the seams meshed together.

It's important to maintain consistency when piecing light/dark 4-patches.  You think it won't matter which direction the pairs are facing, but it does!!  Take my word for that -- been there, done that and it doesn't work -- well, it does if you de-stitch.

To quickly pair up sets, I start by sorting them into stacks by color as above. 

Then I pair up all the sets from one stack with something from another stack until that stack is gone, so I've paired up all the turquoise in the picture below -- time to move on to the green stack.  

Sometimes I "manage" the combinations by only pairing up a warm color with a cool color.  

I find it doesn't pay to get too fussy because there is a gremlin hiding in the studio closet who comes out and rearranges what I've arranged?!? 

Case in point -- there were not blues or purples together when I laid out this group of blocks!!

I must say, the crisp contrast of the checkerboard sections have me thinking about a larger scale checkerboard quilt -- the 1 1/2" strips make for a cute piece but I don't think I'd stay with it for a larger quilt at that scale!

My checkerboards are all finished and I am past the halfway point with the final assembly.  I've run into a couple instances of the checkerboard being too long.

No need to panic!!

Experience has taught me to simply go back and take a slightly deeper seam here and there in a band until the lengths match. 

No need to destitch -- and as you can see my Bernina 1/4" foot makes it easy to see what I need to do.  I'm guiding the original seam along the inside edge of the presser foot. 

From the right side, you hardly notice and no one else will notice it at all!!

This is section 5, waiting for me to return to the studio and stitch it together.  I love how the black is making everything sparkly and breaking up sections to calm the quilt down a bit.

One more session in the studio and it will be ready for the borders.  I found a backing fabric in my "big hunks" stash -- love when that happens!!  And I think I've come up with the quilt's ultimate destiny -- that should provide the incentive to move all the way through the quilting!!

Most of the colored prints in this quilt have been gleaned from my scrap basket and my strip boxes.  There are even some precious little favorite "last" bits tucked here and there.

The center blue square in the upper left corner churn dash is a scrap from the first dress I made when I was 11 years old!!

So time to start a new project, right?

And it's on the cutting table -- hopefully I'll be far enough along with it later this week to share!

Keep on stitching -- there's lots to do!!

Mary

Linking up with SCRAPTASTIC TUESDAY today!!