Magic Sashing

As I await my shipment from Connecting Threads, I took the opportunity to work on my nine-patch quilt. 6.5″ x 2.5″ strips of sashing between each block, plus borders. Lord, that was a LOT of strips of bleached muslin. Aside from the vertical strips that went between the blocks in each row, I created an uber-strip for the rest. I cut, I don’t know, 15? 20? 2.5″ strips and just pieced every last one together. That way, less waste, less individual piecing for each part of the border.

All 35 of the nine-patches are now safely enclosed in their white sashing, and I have to say, it’s amazing what that white does to the overall look. Just sitting together, my blocks looked really random, messy, jumbled, and very, very busy. The white gives them each their own personal space. A little breathing room, separate from the others. Aaahhh.

With that first phase of sashing/borders done, I’m now at work making the pieced border. I kept a box of extra 2.5″ squares the whole time, and though I think I missed a few, I would say most of the fabrics in the blocks are represented in the box of random goodness.

I’ve just started pulling one square after another, chain-piecing all four strips at a time. By my math, the two side borders should each need 29 squares, and the top and bottom should each need 23. How likely do you think it is that they’ll match up the way they’re theoretically supposed to…?

I’m happy with the way this is turning out, perhaps happier than I feared I would (not) be. But I’m also very happy with my decision to go with the half-size version. This feels a lot more manageable.

And, by the way, Fabric.com is having a 30% off sale of their “last chance” fabrics (i.e. ones with a bolt or less in stock). I may have picked up some awesome stripes and polka dots… I have a problem! Someone stop me!