Awesome Thing #6: Time at Home

I feel like I don't get any nice time at home anymore. I'm either home too sick to do anything but drink tea and sleep or I'm out~ whether it be errands or coffee dates. This week was especially hectic. Very late hours at work and doctors visits, volleyball games, and errands, meant that even though I was excited to see my friends this morning I really didn't want to leave home.

I made sure to spend some time cleaning when I did get home so I could enjoy this evening and then I took some time and found my poor neglected quilt. I took most of these photos ages ago and having been meaning to post them for a long time. So here is the latest part of the Hammerhead Quilt Project.

First I get everything ready. Tea, sharp scissors, rotary cutter and mat, pins, and my time-sucking chart.
Thread the machine...
get the iron ready...
get the envelope with all the pieces...
and start assembling the strip. I first lay it all out and make sure all the pieces are there. So far so good~ all the work from before is paying off thankfully.
After making sure the strip is all there I fold all the half-square triangles and sew them together.
Next I press them open. On the first row I just sewed them to the squares. Big mistake. These are not square. Some of them end up pretty square but some of them are freakishly wrong. Either crooked or way too large.
So each newly formed square gets measured and chopped accordingly so they are all 2.5 by 2.5. Takes a while.
THEN I get to sew. This way is faster than having to rip up strips after measuring them and realizing that in no way is a 50 inch strip is going to pass for a 48.5 strip. Only have to learn that lesson once thankfully.
I use the chart again to make sure the strip is correct as I sew and then I iron the strip flat, making sure I alternate which way the hems are laying.
Then I pin the label to the top of the strip and do row after row till I'm 'done' then I sew them all together.
This was the first marathon which was 6 strips.
Today I did another three (the first time I've quilted since Sept 20th!) and added them to the mix. This takes me to 9/36 which is 25%!!! I know it's only one half of the quilt and I still have the border and the back and I'm going to do some more to the front but still. 25%!!!
It's so neato. I have some plans for it yet. I may look into a very light bleaching of the centre blue which is a darker value than I planned for (it was a switch at the last second) but I'll wait till it's all done. That part is the sun which is a bright part of the photo but I feel like it's a little jutting currently. I love the fabric for the sharks themselves.
One way or another, even if it doesn't look like sharks, I am in love with this quilt. It's so much fun to look at! Not all of my corners are awesome but they really aren't bad.
Check those edges out! Booyah! So that is my sixth awesome thing, time at home, and thankfully it isn't as depressing as the last two posts.