Parts and Pieces

I've been making Scrappy Trip blocks out of the 2.5" strips that had accumulated here in the Magpie's Nest. My goal was to make 24 blocks to create a panel 36" x 96" for the quilt I'm making for Debra's Smokin' Hot Quilt Challenge. About half way through I had them on the wall like this:

Then it occurred to me that since this was going to be a vertically oriented design I might be better off making my 'waves' vertical rather than horizontal....

And then of course there was much rearranging of blocks to distribute prints and values as evenly as possible. This central panel had to be created in two sections, the upper half and the lower half, due to the size constraints of my design wall.

I have no idea which of these pictures is which at this point!

The next step was to use the string blocks I showed you in my last post to create columns to go on either side of this central panel. Originally I thought there would be four columns, 6" wide each, separated by a narrow sash. I really wasn't excited by the prospect of dealing with that narrow sash however. That's when I had the bright idea to mash four blocks together in a four patch arrangement like this (it's fuzzy because it's a re-crop of a cropped photo):

So the upper left column now looks like this:

And the upper right column like this:

I think.

I have the lower halves of the columns sewn up too. Hopefully these are the pictures I want; I'm getting confused!

I have some new yardage to use between these three columns (strings - scrappy trips - strings) and as outer borders. It looks to me like a reproduction of a Civil War era print, a nice dark blue that I think will help to calm the chaos of all these older prints. My goal today is to get these sections assembled and at least cut the strips for the sashing and borders. Once that's done I'll have to get help to get a picture of the finished product for you. And I'll be ready for a SMALL project by then!