A Quilt Block Winds Its Way into a Bar . . .

. . . and says to the bartender, "Tell me a funny joke. I like to be kept in stitches."

And so was I introduced to the "Winding Ways" block this weekend, quite unexpectedly!

Back in February, after finishing my block for the gift wallhanging, I mentioned to the project coördinator (Stacie) that if small scraps were returned by the other makers and she felt she couldn't use them, I'd be happy to. She asked me how small was too small? I gave her a piece I was using as my "too small--just throw it away already, Carolyn!" template (the little triangle in this picture) . . .

. . . and the first day of our retreat last week she delivered this case packed full of "scraps"!

Right now it's still holding that large stack of 5" squares, but in it had also been true scraps (none, however, "too small to use") as well as FQ and other large pieces (the sunflowers in the top picture, for example), orphan blocks from one of her recent quilts, some batik pieces . . .

What? What were they meant to be?

. . . and at the bottom of it all, the instructions and enough pieces to construct almost 24 Winding Ways blocks. The instructions came from the February 2013 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting; the article/pattern (the whole issue, in fact) was really pushing the idea of buying the AccuQuilt Go! machine and dies. 

I brought the top page of the instructions (showing a completed quilt) with me to our monthly meeting yesterday (yep, two days after our retreat) and asked Stacie if this was her project. Turns out, those pieces had been inherited from a former member who'd developed Parkinson's Disease and donated her stash and projects to the group. Stacie remembered the original quilt and how stunning it was, but didn't have much more information about all the pieces she'd gifted me.

Everything there had obviously been cut with the AccuQuilt Go! die, and were extremely accurately cut--an absolute joy to piece together. There were some sections that had been sewn together already, mostly for the 'blue flower white corners' blocks. There were more than enough segments to complete 12 'blue flower' blocks (leaving two left-over blue petals). For the 'white flower' blocks, in order to create 12 blocks there were at least a dozen superfluous blue narrow wedges (those pieces between the petals), two too-few blue corners, and four absent petals altogether. I did some 'trim Peter to create Paul' cutting of the two blue pieces left over from the 'white flower' blocks, and ended up using some of the scraps from the box to create the needed four 'white' petals.

Two days of sewing got them all created. I kept thinking, "this is a block you have to want to make" because it takes a lot of attention and slow stitching. Due to the gentle curves of all the pieces, I never used more than one pin while getting everything lined up, but there was nothing mindless about assembling the pieces!

I'll be fleshing out this 32"x48" middle (when it's finally constructed) with several borders, pieced and whole-cloth, to bring this to a nice lap/wheelchair size. I've plenty more of the original blue fabrics and am thinking 4-patches for one of the borders.

Should you be wondering, the dark strips on the right side of my design wall are going to bind the Lady of the Lake lap quilt that's currently being finished. I rootled the blue legacy stash container and found those two pieces that'll do the job quite nicely.