Scrap Dance Tango Mystery Step 3 Complete

The monthly report on Scrap Dance Tango Mystery Quilt is ready!  I did promise not to bore you with it daily….so I hope I have met that commitment!

Scrap Dance Tango Mystery Quilt is designed by Carole and presented on her blog – From My Carolina Home on WordPress.  The link is at the bottom of this post, and there is also a button on the side bar of this blog.  This post will be linked – up on Carole’s blog, and the FLICKR group.

I waited patiently for Step 3 to be posted yesterday morning, and when it was, I got busy!  Because Carole designed the pattern to have you do all of your cutting in Step one, and all of your half square triangles in Step one; assembly of the blocks is rather easy.  That is…if you follow directions~!!~

You may remember that I need 1430 half square triangles (HST) for a king-size. They are all constructed and I am trimming the last 300+…. still.  I do 10 or 20 every so often.  And, because I was so focused on getting all those HST constructed and trimmed, I left some of the cutting for “later“.  Well, since I  did not have enough of the neutrals cut,  I had to take a few minutes to cut more.  I did a little math before I started so I would not “over cut”.  That’s what I mean about “following directions”.  I was hoarding my neutrals until I had all the HST constructed, and I knew it wouldn’t take much time to cut those “other pieces” from step 1 when called for.  

I love the Robert Kaufman Quilt Calculator app for Android phones.  There is a piece count and a pieces to yardage area function, so it is easy to determine how many strips to cut to get my additional 2.5″ squares.  I use the June Tailor Shape Cut, a slotted ruler with 1/2 ” increments and it makes fast work of strip cutting and subcuts into squares.

Once I had 288 neutral squares cut at 2.5″ I pulled out my 2.5″ half square triangles and took out 288 of them. I have been keeping my squares and HST  clipped in bundles of 10 for easier counting. Keeping them in baskets and trays helps too.  It took me longer to press the fabric than it did to cut those squares.

I did lots of chain piecing –

Then lots of ironing – still chained together – still in groups of 8-10 —

Then more bundling into groups of 10 with a little color sorting as I ironed —

I made lots of trips with 2 patches to the ironing board….then I sewed some more…..and made more trips to the iron with 4 patches!  And by dinnertime I had 144 of those cute little 4 patches finished. 

Now I am starting to wonder what the pattern will look like, since in step TWO- in February –  we constructed 4 patches that looked like this-

Oh I love a mystery!  This is a SIX MONTH mystery, so patience will be necessary!  🙂  I am also wondering what we will be building NEXT month!  (I have travel plans in April, but the 2nd Friday is the 8th, and I am hoping to be at it EARLY that day!  I am going to beg Carole to get her post ready and schedule it to “publish” early on the 8th!  You think I can convince her????)

 Meanwhile, I have some trimming of HST to complete, and might now finish cutting the rest of my neutral blocks!!  And, I can get back to my Allietare Mystery Quilt.  It still needs to be trimmed…..and then there are those two UFO’s for my Material Girls Bee….# 8 and # 9…..I better dig them out and look, because we have a bee on Wednesday and ssshhhhh….don’t tell I haven’t touched them………and the UFO challenge was my idea!

 Don’t forget to SPRING forward this weekend if your area is doing it this weekend.  I did not realize until I went looking for the “official” name (Daylight Savings Time in the US), that some countries have already  Sprung forward, and others will do it later in March and April.  There is a great chart on this website Time and Date Daylight Savings Time events  .  Could be helpful if you are making international phone calls or traveling in the next few weeks to know what is happening at your destination.  For me, I am happy to be able to remain in bed until 7 am!  I find the winter is tough because I always feel like I am up before the chickens!

What are your sewing plans for this weekend?

You can get more information and steps for Scrap Dance Tango Mystery Quilt on Carole’s blog –From My Carolina Home

The FLICKR group is located here – Scrap Dance Tango Flickr group

 

 

 

 

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