It's 9.30 in the morning and already it's too hot to sew. I HATE the summer now because it's such a waste of time lying around being miserable when I could be SEWING! But I may have an airconditioner soon, so there's hope in sight.

At 6 this morning I got out my 4-patch blocks and started cutting setting squares and triangles, I love this part of a project. You suddenly seem to be making huge progress after mindlessly piecing blocks. Here are the first four rows set together, and the rest is laid out on the bed behind. The 4-patch blocks were made with an awful collection of one and a half inch strips, really disparate fabrics and no rhyme or reason, apart from a dark and a medium. Then I set them with the light 2" squares to make a 6" block. Then they sat in the drawer for about 18 months, while I tried to find some fabric that didn't turn them into grey mush. Very hard, as there are such a weird assortment of colours.

Finally I settled on this material, which was the scraps from a backing, courtesy of a longarmer friend. The client was obviously generous in the extreme with her measurements, because there was enough to set this quilt and I've still got more strips that will make a border for a smaller quilt. The maroon setting triangles were from the cut-off backing strips of a quilt I did for a customer this week, and I had to do some fancy cutting to get the grain lines running in the right direction. Normally I just cut large squares and quarter them, but I only had strips to work with. Some of the triangles are pieced, but I love the fact that this whole quilt was made from fabric that other people threw away.

I also like the fact that the 4-patches disappear, and the cream squares make the pattern. Originally I was going to use a lighter setting fabric so that a chain effect happened, but it was sooooo boring! After many auditions this unlikely fabric was the only one that jumped out at me, and I like this so much I might do a 'nice' one with reproductions as a 'leader-ender' project. (See quiltville.com with the gorgeous Bonnie Hunter ideas)
(or the ideas of the gorgeous Bonnie Hunter!)