Update on Photo-Mosaic Quilt

Well... it's a little bit trickier than I thought...

After doing some web-surfing, I've come to the conclusion that I have to piece my 1/2-inch squares together into long strips, then sew down one row at at time, one atop the other, to successfully piece my picture.

Here's the problem: The first row went down just fine. But once I reached the second row, I saw I had to fold under at least one edge of the new pieces. Stitching the down, one at a time, wasn't going to work. By the end of the first five hours, I had done exactly one-and-a-half lines, line length approximately ten inches.

I was going absolutely nowhere, and very, very slowly.

So yesterday I picked up my squares, looked at the pattern and proceeded to sew the squares together, just like in a real quilt!

So far, so good. My pieceing has improved over the past few years, and gradually as I worked I got the hang of getting the piece to be the right width. Well, almost. I'm consistently off by two threads each square I sew. I should be able to figure this out.

In four hours I'd done eight rows. So I believe this to be the way to proceed.

The other suggestion I found, by the way, was to iron each square onto lightweight interfacing and sew them down with raw-edged seams.

While I don't ordinarily object to raw-edge seams, I was sure I'd seen this type of quilt done with finished seams.

So, there you have it. I'm piecing half-inch blocks together. Eight lines in, it still looks absolutely nothing like my mother, but since the colors are all in beiges, pinks, light browns and creams, I do have quite a hankering for Neapolitan ice-cream!

House 7, Quilt 0...

Does this happen to you? "I'll get to the quilt right after breakfast. Oh, wait a sec, I'll just bring the laundry down. Oops, I meant to vaccum there yesterday. Oh no, look at the time, I have to get to ___"

And the morning and the evening are the first day.

Someone has a change of schedule. Bus tickets change hands, new timetables play havoc with meal prep and homework.

And the morning and the evening are the second day...

And before I know it, an entire week has gone by - without me touching a quilt.

One of the quilts is hanging up in the sewing room, waiting for me to mark with safety pins the areas to be repaired. So it's waiting for me.

Another is up, on a frame, in front of the rocking chair in the living room. Everything needed is right beside it.

It's not like there's any particular difficulty in getting ready to quilt! I don't have to set anything up first. All I have to do is physically plop myself into the chair and pick up the needle!

So why have seven complete days gone by without a stitch?