Thinking it through

     I so much appreciate when quilt bloggers show and explain their process of making and thinking. I learn a lot that way- adding to my bag of thinking strategies. In this quilt, Diagonal Variations, I used precut white strips from jellyrollfabric.net  (free pattern frome them). I  bought a Kaffe precut jelly roll from MSQC when it was on sale. Right away, I know I have lost some as they don't buy precuts. (I do hate pinked edges, come on, cut them straight.) My thinking is I need to find quilts my mom can help me with. She is not a quilter but can sew straight seams and wants to help and is always asking to make something. If I use precuts, I can give her something that I don't have to spend a lot of time prepping. Also, to get a selection of that many Kaffe prints, I would have to have invested in a lot of yardage. So, I wait for sales. I had my mom sew a black jelly roll version in this post  (near the bottom).
    She sewed all the strip sets into tubes for me (and she doesn't think she is a quilter). When I was at my daughter's house new baby sitting, I cut the tubes with a strip tube ruler, pressed the blocks open, and trimmed every one of them to 8 3/4" making sure the diagonal was in the center, and used lots of Magic Sizing because of all the bias. I had 68 blocks. 
    When the dust settled back home, I laid them up on the design wall thinking I could get two lap quilts out of it. My first arrangement was 7 blocks by 8 blocks. I then used the leftover blocks to make an arrangement for another quilt. The second quilt was really small. Hmm. I think the 7 x 8 was too short as I am  more convinced a comfort quilt should cover your feet when you are laying down. During my heart attack episode week in the hospital in February, there were no blankets to be had. Someone brought me a comfort quilt at home, but my feet stuck out when I laid on the couch. So, I am not making any short comfort quilts anymore.

7 by 8

Leftover blocks, maybe some sashing?

     So, I used most of the blocks and made an 8 by 8 layout. Somehow the symmetrical design was not very dynamic and lost some punch. And then there is the fact it is a big square. Maybe not for a comfort quilt.

    So, then I tried a 7 by 9. I liked the way it looked even though the sides are not symmetrical. It has some punch in the design. I used all by a couple blocks. I will use one of them for the pocket on the bag. I put painters tape numbers at the top of each column and will sew them as a web that Wanda taught me. 

    Even though the sewing is easy to make the blocks, there is a ton of trimming and careful pressing. When I get the web sewn together and pressed, I will do a row of stay stitching around the outside stretch to keep the bias in check. So that is my thinking on this diagonal variations quilt.