Don't be a step skipper!

     Actually, I am borrowing the line from a Seinfeld episode where one character is accused by George of skipping one of the steps in Alcoholics Anonymous. Seinfeld was the last sitcom I have watched and liked. Our whole family still uses lines from episodes to describe situation we observe. There is a Seinfeld line for every occasion.  
    In my case, it was skipping preview on the design wall and just sewing scraps together when making blocks for a smaller Film at Five quilt than I had made before. My idea was to make each block part of the rainbow spectrum. I love rainbows. I don't care that they have been co-opted by a particular movement, I love rainbow spectrums. I just love color.
    I have my 2 1/2" scraps sorted by colors in plastic boxes. So, I just took out scraps and sewed them leader ender style between other quilts. Big mistake. I resisted putting them up on the wall because that would be a lot of little blocks to deal with. So, I selected 25 and sewed them together.  Skipped the wall, paid the price.
    When I put them up on the wall, I noticed I totally forgot the Red Violet block. The green greens were awful olivey, and the red oranges were not distinct enough from the red reds. Do you know green greens are really hard to find? I had to comb through a lot of uncut fabric to dredge up enough colors for one block. I had to compose a red violet block and I need to deconstruct the red orange to fit in (partial seams, o boy). 
     I am thinking of grey solid sashing and I need to pick out the color squares for the sashing also. This time, it goes on the wall first, I am not winging it. Whenever I wing it, I never get in flight, but grounded.
     Don't be a step skipper!

First view on wall, uh oh 

Had to junk block on left. Have to sew new block on right.

Red violet ready to sew- on the wall!

One off, another on

     Film at Five is all sewn, waiting for a backing and quilting. I really, really like it. The more variety of scraps you have, the better. So, it is off the design wall.
     On the the wall is Little Boxes. I had made a pink version, which is still waiting for quilting. I finally had time to lay it out. Now, I have to cut a multitude of white strips for the rows and top and bottom. The pattern is free from http://www.jellyrollfabric.net/
     It works great for WOF strips. Good thing I bought some more Kona white on sale at Hancock's of Paducah.

 

Needs white strips in between rows yet,
trying to figure color placements

Coming together!

    A while back, I made Fading Charms from Wedding Dress Blues. I love using the scraps and the clean look of Deanna's designs. I use Kona White but would love a white that did not ravel as much. Is there one out there? 
    I started, as my next scrap/leader-ender project, Film at Five by her also. I chipped away at it, as a leader-ender projects and lastly sewed all the sashing, some when I was traveling with the trusty Featherweight. Finally, I laid it out on the design wall. I sewed it together, column by column (9 of them) like Wanda taught me. This keeps everything in order. Then I split the web halfway down and sewed the bottom rows together. 
     All that waits is the top half rows and then sewing the two halves together. I love it! Takes all those disparate scraps and makes a beautiful quilt. In the big blocks, I did do a dark/light pattern and always had the corners in darks. I think it holds together better that way.

Layout on wall, bottom sashes missing

Bottom half sewn, top half webbed, rows need to be sewn.