Diversion

With some personal tumult going on at the moment, it's been hard to get terribly enthused about going into my studio these past few days, other than for the occasional Dump-'n'-Dash. But yesterday I had a yearning to accomplish something by way of quilting (and I needed some quiet thinking time), so I sat down with my rail blocks (which earlier I had already paired up and sewn together) and promptly made a mistake that required unsewing half the misbegotten seam.

I looked around at my options. Did I want to get up and go all the way around the table to boot up the computer and look at the layout I had planned for the rail blocks?

No. I really didn't.

Looking at the mess across the room . . .

Dump-'n'-Dash results.

. . . it's small wonder I was uninspired to approach this.

My eyes landed on my overflowing collection of paired-up HTSs, my Leader-Ender project for the Lady of the Lake blocks started by another Magpie, 

and I decided to dump the whole lot out and start pairing pairs, sewing them into strips of four until the pile was gone.

^ Ignored rail blocks                Paired ^ pairs in box             

Part-way through the process I had the sense to double-check points--did all the borders have the same orientation?

At first glance, one would be tempted to say, "Of course! All the darks are taking up the lower right corner. Duh!" But my pairings were sewn to look like the top and bottom borders of this Lady of the Lake pattern. It was the left and right sides that I'd need to start making next, and they're sewn together with a completely different orientation. So a reminder/template was drawn to keep me on track with this project:

Of the upper (lighter-drawn) configuration, I made too many pairs--enough to border 53 blocks (I'm glad I stopped when I did!) Pairing of those pairs stopped when I had enough strips-of-four for 48 blocks, and I've set the rest aside (for future unsewing? Time will tell). In the tin itself are four more layers, each layer consisting of 9 stacks of 8 HTSs. Those, and the squares remaining on the top layer shown here, should be enough to make the side borders for 48 blocks.

Tomorrow is Dreadful Tuesday and I have a project in mind that'll give me plenty of quiet thinking time, physical exertion, and a nicely rearranged guest room (she types, hopefully). As soon as it's nicely rearranged, I'll start dumping all the crap in there (as one does)!