HST layout decided

      Now that the design wall was free of the gray stripey thing, I finished pinning up the Half Square Triangles. I tried a bunch of layouts. I had divided up both charm packs of Marcia Derse fabrics into light, medium and dark, but the divisions were not even-- the light ones had the least. As a consequence, there were a lot of dark clumps.

One of many tries

     I got out the camera again and used the B&W feature to find the best variation in values.

This was the layout I decided on.

    When I sew the blocks together, I sew the 1st row 1st block to 2nd block, then the 2nd row, 1st block to 2nd block, 3rd row 1st block to 2nd block until the last row. Then I will sew the 1st row 2nd block to 3rd block 2nd row 2nd block to 3rd block, etc. until I get all the rows pieced. With all the rows pieced, I sew pairs of rows together, like 1 to 2, 2 to 3, etc. Then I sew all the pairs seams until all the rows are sewn. If there is a better way, I am all for it. Shout it out.
    I mark each row with the row number and block position number. 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 all across. I use blue painters tape that was rolled out a strip on my cutting board, cut it half lengthwise, and then across into little squares. I label the tape with a sharpie. 
    Then I take the cutting board with the numbers to the design wall and stick them on placing the number at the center top of the block so I always know the orientation. 
     Last, I start with the first number in the row and stack them until the last number in the row is on the bottom. I use a small bulldog clip for each row to keep track of the rows. I arrange these on my sewing table and pull then out in order for piecing. No matter if I am interrupted or have brain interruptions, it stays in order because it is numbered and the top side is plain. It may sound like a lot of fussy work, but it pays off in streamlined sewing and NO ripping.

Partial view of the numbering while on the wall

Ready to roll