Welcome to this edition of WAYWO (What Are You Working On?), a weekly community diary series for all things crafty, in a variety of mediums and techniques....so welcome knitters, sewers, quilters, crocheters, woodworkers, and anyone else who would like to share.....
I almost always have multiple projects in process, so the question of WAYWO usually stumps me a little. Sure, a project will take the forefront for a while, but few are done start to finish with no intervening work on other items.
Take, for example, my son's graduation quilt. I started designing it in fall of 2010 at the beginning of his senior (fourth) year in college. At the time he was on track to graduate with a bachelors in mechanical engineering in May 2011.
But plans changed. He decided to enter Air Force ROTC, though most students enter the sequence of classes as freshmen or sophomores. There was no way he could finish school in four years and fulfill the requirements of AFROTC.
No problem! Besides finishing the BS, he would also enter and finish a masters in engineering, a plan approved by the engineering college, AFROTC, and the parents. Ultimately, this led to a date for his bachelors degree of May 2012, and the masters degree and commissioning into the Air Force of December 2012.
So with a completed design, I started energetically, making half the blocks in February. Then I put all the fabrics and components in a project drawer for "later." In the meantime I worked on and completed several other projects both for friends/family and for donation.
Now with a deadline in May, I really need to step up to get it done on time.
So, WAIWO? I've been working on his quilt.
When I design quilts as gifts, I try to incorporate symbolism that represents the recipient to me. Whether or not they understand it, I do, and it helps me to "love on" every cut, press, and stitch. It was easy to decide what kind of symbols to use for his gift, especially once he'd decided to enter the Air Force. Propellers. Airplane propellers are appropriate, but so are wind turbine propellers, as he spent a couple of years working with a professor on wind energy projects.
There are lots of ways to include spinners into quilts, lots of windmill and pinwheel variations. I drew dozens of designs using blue and yellow, the Air Force colors, before settling on this:
This is a 9x9 layout using 2 blocks that create a secondary pattern. Only straight lines are used, but the combination gives the illusions of curves and circular motion.
With blocks that "finish" after sewing at 9", the finished quilt will be approximately 81" square, big enough to dress a queen-sized bed. There are 41 of the more complex block (21 patches per block) and 40 of the "simple" block (only 13 patches per block.)
Doing the math and not counting a border, I count 1,381 pieces of fabric. As a friend said, "THAT'S a Mother's Love right there...."
I finished the simple blocks early last year and did a few of the complex ones. Now I'm working on the rest of those. Because there are so many pieces to cut, here's how I keep track of what's left to do:
Even with the calculations and notes, I always need to readjust. This can be because I mis-cut or mis-sewed something, badly enough that it isn't repairable. There's a small pile of patches that are just a bit too small. ARGH!!
Or I just lose track of my counts. Usually I'll cut and sew a lot of components, but not all of them, and then need to recount. Sooner or later all the numbers add up and all the blocks will be built.
All my patches are made and now I'm ready to sew blocks together.
Because all the blocks are made from the same fabrics, the assembly is simple and doesn't require laying out blocks for design effect, the way a scrappy quilt would. When I have all 81 blocks done, I'll lay them out on the floor and start stitching them together in rows. Once I have 9 rows sewn, I'll sew them together. Then I can move on to quilting on my long-arm machine.
In a few days I need to put this project away again to meet deadlines in February and March. But I'll come back to this and will be able to finish it by mid-May, just in time for graduation.
What are YOU working on?