Growing, not shrinking, stash!

I wanted to try to show an alternative block size and layout to the pink and white Odd Girl Out Rail Fence pattern I’ll be using when I teach my beginning quilting class at the new sewing machine shop in town, Jones Sew n Vac.

So, what did I do?  I shopped my stash, of course!  And I found some great fabrics that work well with the colors in my living room, the colors that my DH is most comfortable with.  This will be easy, right?

I ended up with 24 blocks and I decided I liked the traditional Rail Fence layout but I wanted a larger quilt.  I like scrappy so I started adding fabric.  And then I needed just one more color, maybe two.    But I needed more than just a fat quarter.   Oh, and how about this other color, I need that one, too.  Oh, but that green is too dark, I’ll need to replace that one, and that print is distracting, so take those blocks out.

Seriously, see the orange print?  It’s distracting and I hadn’t noticed it before I took this photo!  So, those are going into a different project.

All in all I spent my allowance for this on fabric that I didn’t intend to purchase and my stash has grown, not shrunk!  Aargh!

But I’m happy to report that the blocks are sewn into rows and I’ve started sewing the rows together.  It seems that I’m a lot less tolerant than I used to be for those seams that shift when I sew them together.  Either that, or I’ve gotten sloppier in my technique.  Oh yeah, THAT’S why I don’t use this layout in my beginning class!

I should have the top done by Saturday, but I may not have borders on.  That’s OK because then I can use this top as an example to show my class, which is exactly what my intent what in the beginning, anyway.