Some More Quilting in the Cooler Weather!

 I should have titled this blog -- Not too Great an Idea....  I had envisioned using purple and orange "flavored" blocks in the center of this quilt.  As you can see, it didn't work AT ALL so it joined the pile of blocks that won't   be used.  The ones in this iteration that have the  bright orange in them also hit the reject pile.  As I am making 196 of these blocks, hard to give up on any as they are not as easy as they might seem at first glance.

So the purple block got eliminated.  I still haven't arranged the rest.  the blocks with the pale oranges will remain the center blocks.

The center blocks are sewn together.  I took great liberties with the pattern instructions and got even more liberal with the directions as I got further into the quilt.  I understand why I put it down those years ago!!  It is boring but at least mine is well into wonkiness which is my preferred way.  I used a ruler thinking it was a 6 inch square and it was a 6 1/2 square which I didn't catch onto until I had cut well over a 100 blocks.  To get them to be square and even, I placed the ruler however I could so as to not cut off too much.  I also made both left and right handed block which if you look closely, you can see above.  Some was accidental and then some was on purpose!  I am going to make it in three sections so it will be easier to quilt.  It will be for a king sized bed in a room that is painted a pale green.

The directions call for combining units that were cut from 3 inch rectangles and 3 1/2 inch rectangles with two of each in each block.  By the end I made sure that I had uneven amounts of the four sided shapes with at least of the ones cut from the 3 1/2 inch rectangles so that I didn't have to struggle so much to get a 6 1/2 block.  You have to square up each block, a task I never like.

I will be surrounding those orange centered blocks with brighter green centered blocks and then the final row on the outside will be blocks that are darker in value.  I haven't decided yet whether I will separate the center blocks with a bit of sashing which will make the quilt a little wider.  Will have to see.

I have seen very few Buffleheads this year, maybe because it has been warmer than usual.

The Hooded Mergansers have disappeared from the aquarium pond but have been replaced by a good sized flock of Gadwalls which are a very elegant duck in my humble opinion.  Lots of males and females and some nice weather for viewing!