wherein we encounter a "design opportunity"

I've been moving right along, blissfully working on the individual blocks, secure in the idea that I would soon be able to cut the 2 inch stripping and set the whole thing together and getting on with the quilting

eh, hmmmm --- not quite

note the width of the big fish block

note the width of the water lily block that is supposed to fit right there under the big fish block

uh, not quite

there was mumbling and wailing and multiple examinations of both the drawings and the stitched blocks

how did this happen?

well, easy --- I messed up when I cut the long rectangles -- instead of cutting two of the each of the sizes we were supposed to have, I cut four of the smaller one

DUH
what to do?

well, I spent some time fiddling with the blocks in every possible permutation

and came up with this (do-able) asymmetrical layout

and I like it

in fact, I like it better than the original layout although it will be a bit more difficult to stitch together than the original "formally balanced" version would have been

hey, who said we had to do anything the easy way?

so the next step is to cut some strips (and yes I have the measurements all figured out) and start setting it together

meantime, work was done on the sunflower yesterday -- I have only four more of the "background" petals to applique down before I start in on attaching the three dimensional ones -- I still haven't decided if I actually want to top stitch each of those three dimensional ones yet, but I'm going to have to decide that soon

and I worked on the trees -- one entire side of aspen tree number three is now attached -- and I had to add an extra 3 inches of fabric at the top of it -- fortunately not a problem as I still have the fabric to add "branches" on those trees
and no, I didn't just work on quilts

this is the fifth of the strips for the afghan I'm making for a Christmas gift

and mitten number 20 is ready for the thumb stitches to go to a stitch holder so I can knit the rest of the hand

I'm reviewing the ins and outs of the sweater pattern that I will be tackling next



and afghan square number 26 is complete



today there is laundry and some yard work to do, then it's on to the projects!