Tedium Begins!

I always get excited when I start a new quilt!  Especially one that has been dancing around in my head for a long time.  Sometimes the hardest part is actually starting!

Knowing full well this quilt will most likely be frustrating and tedious...I'm going to attempt it and hope that the effort and hard work will be worth it!



What is this, you ask?!  A finely tuned array of red, orange and yellow sunset inspired strips!  What will it become?!  Hopefully a small quilt when it's all said and done!
  

RAW II

A while back I blogged about this Mini Quilt:  RAW II.  I was experimenting with texture by using the small raw edge woven blocks and it soon led to the 'louver' texture of the gradient strips.  I pretty much fell in love with the texture, the illusion it creates from different angles and in truth...the process.  I knew at that time that I wanted to take it to another level and make a larger quilt.  Just to see if it can be done.  Test my limits. 

It involves a lot of cutting of 3/4" strips!  I raided my stash and came up with 35 different colors.  The number of strips per color vary depending on the cut of fabric.  If the fabric is from selvage to selvage, I cut two strips.  Fat quarters get four strips and of course, there are some random three strip sets.

 

Before I can even think about cutting, I had to starch the fabric.  You can imagine how time consuming that was!  But it is well worth it in the end.  Each strip next had to be folded in half.  My fingers were sufficiently 'steamed' many times trying to fold the strips from skinny to even skinnier after the fold treatment!  I had to keep reminding myself that this is going to be worth it!

I'm hoping that today I can cut the background strips using Kona Ice Frappe.  These strips won't be as small as the sunset strips and they won't need to be folded.  I'm confident that it will be a much easier process!

 

Having just finished a complicated color placement quilt:  Bows & Flows, where I labeled each color as to avoid confusion, I thought this newest composition would need its own labeling system.  A chart it is!  My plan is to cut out the numbers and staple each one to the ends of each strip.  That way...fingers crossed...I won't get the colors out of order!

Great plan or so I thought about labeling!  I ended up writing the number on each strip and using the paper labels stapled on to the dark fabric.  Both ideas will work!

Rumor has it the next week will be full of rain each and every day.  Seems like the perfect time to hunker down in my sewing room!

To be continued...

LINKING:

Oh Scrap

Main Crush Monday

Freemotion by the River

Let's Bee Social
Mid Week Makers

Needle & Thread

TGIFF

Crazy Mom Quilts