Charmed Away

Previous attempts to track how long projects take me have been less than successful since my usual 'hour' of sewing might also consist of 20 minutes of answering the phone, 3 minutes of writing an email, and 10 minutes of chasing the cat off the sewing table. Knowing I had some time that wouldn't be interrupted by any of those usual things (off hours for the phones and emails, and Momo was quite happily sitting on the sofa with Greg) and thus be able to keep better track of actual sewing time made it easier than ever to start a new project.

I had a couple of charm packs waiting for some uninterrupted sewing time - and I even had the needed neutral fabric to do more than just pet the charms.

An hour later, I was ready to iron my first 42 blocks.

Unfortunately, ironing the blocks took the second of my free sewing hours so I ended the night with 42 ironed 5" (mostly) square blocks:

as well as a growing pile of 2" half-square triangles:

which I also ironed (not pictured). And can I add - I finally understand why tiny irons exist. Trying to work these little blocks through my massive iron was a challenge. My fingers are still a little blistered...

I was able to carve out two more hours of sewing time the next night - during which I finished making the rest of my top blocks, ironed them (though I skipped ironing the resulting 2" hst blocks this time), and sewed them together into strips. By the end of my sewing time, I was fangirling over this:

The strips and sash pieces are only laid out together, not yet sewn into a completed top. I wanted to get the layout right so I could iron the seams in the right orientation for happier, flatter seams. Aside from ensuring I didn't wind up with duplicate pieces next to each other, the order of blocks in each row of eight is random. Matching up each row of eight with a partner was easy for once thanks to my four favorite blocks ending up in four different rows. For balance, none of those could be partnered together - so I really only had to compare each favorite row with each of the four others (instead of trying to compare each row to each other - a horrible idea I've done in the past).

It's looking so good! It's my goal to be able to carve out another hour or two tomorrow so I can finish ironing and piecing this much of the top - and maybe get a photo of it taken in natural (or even decent) lighting.

Momo seems to be a fan already - he was determined to walk all over it when I was testing layouts. Greg, who generally has only positive remarks about my projects, not only said that this might be his favorite thing I've made yet but suggested we skip lunch tomorrow to go pick up more of this exact charm pack so I can make another of the same pattern/fabric combination. That's pretty high praise - and dangerous, considering how long I can vanish into my local quilt/fabric shop. I think I'll resist (mostly because I'm setting the fabric money aside towards another goal right now) - probably...