Stars and Stripes Quilt

I was happy to learn about the NewFO linky. Barb over at Cat Patches doesn't have many UFOs and created a monthly linky party that generates UFOs. You have to start something new every month. And you don't have to finish anything at all. Ever. Wooo!! Like I needed an excuse to start new projects and not finish them.

In that spirit, since I think I finally collected enough fabric for my patriotic quilt, I started it.

This has been burning a hole in my creative pocket for a while.

This may just be the most complicated quilt I've attempted to put together because all the blocks are the same pattern but the coloring and placement is vastly different. I had to get organized about this one, no throwing it together helter-skelter with happy quilt pieces everywhere. (I have this mental image of a ball pit, like at Discovery Zone, only filled with fabric and ecstatic sewers playing).

Step One: Give each block its own designation (A1, A2, B1, etc)

Step Two: Determine what size to cut each piece for paper piecing. I did this, then cut several of each color and sorted them into labelled zippy bags. The bags are labelled with both the paper piecing number for the block and the size of the fabric piece that needs to be cut.

 Step Three: Sew a test block. I started working on block A1, so I counted out the scrappy pieces I needed to complete the block and those went into their own bag along with all 8 printed pattern pieces. I also used colored pencil to color-code my paper pieces pattern, so I know which color goes where without constantly referring to my large pattern.

And here are the completed pieces so far:

I had big plans to finish this block a few days ago, but as I was happily sewing away, I heard my neighbors complaining about the weeds next to my house. This was actually really upsetting, because my first response was WHAT WEEDS? Sure enough, I found out that on that side of the house, the weeds had sprung up. I was embarrassed, because I had no idea they were there - we don't spend any time outside and there is this little privacy fence on the other side of my air-conditioner that completely blocks the view of that side of the house. It seems to take no time at all for weeds to grow. I swear they grow faster than the grass. So I spent a few hours outside this week, took care of the weeds and did some other yard work that needed to be done.

Seriously though, all it would have taken is my neighbor dropping by to say "Hey, can you take care of this for me?" and that would have given me a chance to apologize and say "Dude, sorry, I didn't know they were there, sure, I got this." And the weeds would have been taken care of and everyone would have been happy. Instead, I don't even want to talk to my neighbors.

So the lesson here is, be kind, because you don't know what is going on in your neighbors lives. Don't assume laziness or malicious intent - it usually isn't there.