4 Patches, 4 patches and more 4 patches

I'm sewing, which is the good news. I'm chain piecing these 4 patches, and I feel like I'm just sewing and sewing and they don't seem to ever stop! You probably don't recall, but I made the 4 patch blocks (3 inch finished) ages ago, then the project was put on hold as I didn't have the fabric for the setting squares, and I couldn't find something I liked that I could afford. The quilt is inspired by this old one and I wanted to find a nice double pink. As you would know, double pinks are very popular, and rarely make it to the sale bins, and as I needed 6+ metres, I was hoping to find something a little cheaper than normal. If I had bought it here in Australia it would've cost me A$150, so I was prepared to wait.

Then I saw this one some time ago, and I snapped it up. So I have been sewing and sewing and sewing, then I thought to myself last night, 'maybe I should be thinking about how long the rows are going to be before I sew everything together'. Of course I couldn't find my book that had the calculations in it about how much fabric I needed and how many 4 patches I needed to make. Eventually I found it, and I have to tell you that it didn't help at all! How I worked it out I have no idea.

So now I'm thinking I'll have to try and draw a diagram - the problem being that I want to set the blocks on point... I'm thinking I may have to try and do it in EQ, which I own but never use, as it just doesn't make sense to me. Not logical, so I've never taken to it, plus I'm not much of a planner when it comes to quilts, I'm more a 'seat of your pants' type designer. Maybe this is why I don't get much finished - oh and also because I make everything Queen Sized. Hopeless.

Oh well, I'll have to do something, otherwise I can see myself having these great long rows of blocks that will have to be unpicked as they are too long.

My slump must be lifting as I am now nearly up to date with my bloglines. A few weeks ago the little message would come up saying I had over 3500 posts to read... a bit daunting. So now I have almost caught up with 2 of my Playlists, the first being Doglovers, the second being Favourite Quilters. There are still plenty of unread posts in the Knitting etc List, but it's summer, and I only get the knitting fever in winter. So I'm sorry if I've neglected some of you who I would regularly visit, as I havent' been able to leave comments on all the blogs I've visited, but trust me, I've probably been there. I had a visit from a fairly new blogger called JulieK - I went to her blog today, and was wowed by her beautiful quilts. She is a nurse too and works a lot by the sound of it, so where she finds the time I don't know. Makes me feel pretty slack actually. Many of you already know about her blog, but if not go over and visit. Lots of nice old and traditional quilts, and some amazing hand quilting.

Otherwise, not much happening here. It's a funny old day today - overcast but not raining. I will now go and start up the EQ and see if I can remember what to do. Or I could watch the cricket...