I'm so excited about moving along with the cheddar basket blocks. I finished the ones I was working on last week, and this week I'm ready to sew them into a quilt top. The layout I was thinking about:
was to be similar to this rectangle one by Laundry Basket Quilts:
I want the white spaces big enough for the machine quilter to do something special there, and decided to put three cheddar baskets on each side of the blank squares. However, the blue example quilt above has only two blocks on each side, making 127 total star blocks, and after doing the math, I figured out I would need 175 cheddar baskets to do the same layout. I counted blocks, and I have 132 made right now. That would mean 43 more baskets to make.
I decided to change my layout to a square quilt instead of rectangle shaped. After doing more math, I figured I will need 132 blocks to do that. Karma! I have 132! I don't have to make any more cheddar baskets and can begin assembly. I think it will turn out to be about 65" by 65" if there are no borders.
Here is a picture of the design wall with strips of three baskets sewn together for each side of the blank square. I will need 18 sets of three baskets leaning toward the right and 18 sets of three leaning toward the left. The corner baskets are similar to sashing "cornerstones" and I will assemble it as rows of blank blocks with basket sashing. I hope to have the quilt top assembled next Monday.
A total lunar eclipse happened Sunday night. Did you stay up to watch it and could you see it from your house? Even though it was really cold here, we went outside at 11:40 PM and the moon was almost completely hidden by the shadow of the earth. I feel really small when I think about the sun, earth, and moon all aligned in the great sky above. I had to get the Internet explanation for this phenomenon because I didn't pay much attention in science class:
The Moon does not have its own light but shines because its surface reflects the Sun's rays. During a total lunar eclipse, the Earth comes between the Sun and the Moon and blocks any direct sunlight from reaching the Moon. The Sun casts the Earth's shadow on the Moon's surface.
Looking forward to seeing what is on your design walls today. As usual, please refer back to this particular blog post somewhere within your post. Thanks!
I want the white spaces big enough for the machine quilter to do something special there, and decided to put three cheddar baskets on each side of the blank squares. However, the blue example quilt above has only two blocks on each side, making 127 total star blocks, and after doing the math, I figured out I would need 175 cheddar baskets to do the same layout. I counted blocks, and I have 132 made right now. That would mean 43 more baskets to make.
I decided to change my layout to a square quilt instead of rectangle shaped. After doing more math, I figured I will need 132 blocks to do that. Karma! I have 132! I don't have to make any more cheddar baskets and can begin assembly. I think it will turn out to be about 65" by 65" if there are no borders.
Here is a picture of the design wall with strips of three baskets sewn together for each side of the blank square. I will need 18 sets of three baskets leaning toward the right and 18 sets of three leaning toward the left. The corner baskets are similar to sashing "cornerstones" and I will assemble it as rows of blank blocks with basket sashing. I hope to have the quilt top assembled next Monday.
A total lunar eclipse happened Sunday night. Did you stay up to watch it and could you see it from your house? Even though it was really cold here, we went outside at 11:40 PM and the moon was almost completely hidden by the shadow of the earth. I feel really small when I think about the sun, earth, and moon all aligned in the great sky above. I had to get the Internet explanation for this phenomenon because I didn't pay much attention in science class:
The Moon does not have its own light but shines because its surface reflects the Sun's rays. During a total lunar eclipse, the Earth comes between the Sun and the Moon and blocks any direct sunlight from reaching the Moon. The Sun casts the Earth's shadow on the Moon's surface.
Looking forward to seeing what is on your design walls today. As usual, please refer back to this particular blog post somewhere within your post. Thanks!
I knew there was going to be an eclipse last night but I'm afraid it was too late for me. I had been asleep for hours when it occurred. Hopefully the news will show it today. I know it won't be a wonderful as it would have been in real life but I just can't accomplish anything during the day if I stay up late anymore.
ReplyDeleteYour baskets are beautiful! This will be such a lovely quilt. You do good with tiny blocks. Happy stitching!
You've made really good progress on those basket blocks. It's going to be a beautiful quilt. We didn't watch the eclipse, it was much too cold to wander outside.
ReplyDeleteYour baskets are wonderful! What a great quilt they are going to make. Love your design.
ReplyDeleteI'm seeing Aurora all over the net recently. I love how you have taken the idea and made it your own.
ReplyDeleteIt is neat that the sizes of the earth and moon make total eclipses possible. One thing that people tend to think is that there is a dark side to the moon.
Helen
Your cheddar baskets are very wonderful.... you should be proud.
ReplyDeleteI love your basket quilt!
ReplyDeleteI saw the beginning of the eclipse, but it was just to late for me to watch the whole thing.
I absolutely ADORE your layout for those little baskets! I'm glad the math worked out so you can proceed without having to make more of them, too. Yes, we went out and looked at the strange red moon last night after hearing about it from the meteorologist on the news. It was definitely a sight worth seeing!
ReplyDeleteOh Judy, I am totally in love with these perfect little baskets.
ReplyDeleteOh wow! I just adore these little baskets and I love this setting. I like big open spaces for hand quilting and I am looking forward to seeing what your longarm quilter does with them.
ReplyDeleteYour cheddar baskets are too adorable! Glad your math was serendipitous :) I recently learned that Edyta Sitar lives in my city, what a coincidence. I follow her on Instagram and her shots of the beach were all too familiar, lol.
ReplyDeleteHere on the west coast our viewing times were much better than yours for the eclipse, as it started a couple hours after sunset. There were a lot of fast-moving clouds flying by that made the eclipse even eerier. It was fun to pop out to the backyard and watch it. I also followed the live feed from Griffith Observatory.
WOW, it is going to be a gorgeous quilt.
ReplyDeletewow - love that - such tiny baskets - I'm busy working on numerous things and organizing the sewing room
ReplyDeleteThose cheddar baskets are amazing! and I love the setting you are doing for them - that quilting will shine
ReplyDeleteFess up, you are only in it for the love of math.
ReplyDeleteMy design wall is one of the most important tools in my room. without it I'd still be making quits out of 12 squares.
Wow, that is amazing you had the right number of blocks. The blocks are amazing!
ReplyDeleteLove the baskets...pattern? Love it when math works like that. I have done so many lists and lots of planning and sorting and giving away this month. And my design wall has several works in progress on it. Will have to figure out how to share. This is such a great time of year to hunker down and imagine, wonder and sew!
ReplyDeleteWowee those are tiny. I love it!
ReplyDeleteThose little baskets are tiny and oh, so precious.
ReplyDeleteYour baskets look great! We stayed up for the start of the eclipse, but I had to be at work the next morning. My husband is an amateur astronomer so he watched the whole thing and got some good pictures to show me in the morning!
ReplyDelete