Quarantine Holiday Weekend Sewing

It's a rainy Saturday and we are still under quarantine restrictions although they are starting to slowly loosen up.   While a sunny day prompts taking the opportunity to go outside for a little air, on a drab day like this there is nothing better than to be inside in front of your sewing machine!  

In preparation for today's task: since I've finished sewing together the center for Edyta Sitar's Laundry Basket Quilts Mystery.....

....and had decided on doing this border.....

Edyta Sitar's Finished Quilt

.....I've spent the last two days cutting these:

Edyta gave a number of border options for what is now called her "California" quilt design.  You could go with fabric borders (and she showed them using her "Super Bloom" fabrics), an applique border or this pieced border.  I liked this one because it will allow me to mine the remainder of my project stash.  For it, she used 1-1/2" wide strips cut in lengths from 1-1/2" to 5-1/2" to create the 6" finished border.  So this choice also appealed to me because (as Pam Heller of Accuquilt likes to say) I have a die for that!

The bottom half of the Accuquilt Log Cabin die cuts strips 1-1/2" wide and from 1-1/2" to 8-1/2" long and the top half cuts the strips that are 9-1/2" to 12-1/2" long.   I had originally purchased this die because I really wanted to make a few traditional log cabin quilts.  There are so many layouts for that kind of block and you can make blocks of various sizes depending on how many rounds of logs you piece together.  I felt it would be a versatile die for those reasons alone.  However, so far except for this runner, I've mostly used the die in cases like this where I need a large number of 1-1/2" strips of varying sizes for a project.

I only needed to load my fabrics on the bottom half of the board to cut my strips and cut one or two layers from all the fabrics I have left.  Initially I've put aside the 6-1/2", 7-1/2" and 8-1/2" strips until I sew all the other ones up.  If I need more of the shorter strips, before I die cut more fabric, I can cut down the larger strips.  Whatever strips I don't use for the borders, I'll just add to my Log Cabin Strip Storage Box.

 When a Log Cabin quilt finally gets up to the top of the "To Do" list, I'll be able to grab the accumulated stash in that box to get it started.  If I need additional fabrics in particular values or colors, I will also go through my Scrap Users Box of 1-1/2" strips to add to the Log Cabin strip stash.

Rhubye and I are still working together!

Using my large and small design boards makes it pretty easy to keep everything organized and ready for sewing!  Prior to sewing, the companion sizes of the dark and light strips are stacked opposite each other (so 1-1/2" and 5-1/2",  2-1/2" and 4-1/2" and 3-1/2" and 3-1/2") so I can pick them up and sew them together.  The finished pieced strips are stacked up until I am ready to arrange them on the wall.

In Edyta's border design there is also a 2" finished inner border before the pieced outer border.  I've already cut and pieced together the strips for those too.  I don't have enough space on the sides of my design wall to layout those strips and the border ones so just have it laying on top of the edge of the quilt for now while I play with the color balance of the pieced strips.  Not a bad way to start off the holiday weekend!