What is so satisfying about being in my sewing room? How do I get from fabric store purchases to finished quilt? A key ingredient is having such a wonderful space where I can make my own mess and then leave it there untouched until I come back to it. Allen never complained about me having my things in the dining room, the laundry room, and then all over the extra bedroom spread out on the bed, but having my own space is heaven. I never understood my mom's delight in heading to the basement to sew, but I guess I do now. She surely didn't have such wonderful tools and resources that I do, but she managed to make everything from church curtains to all of my clothes. I'll stick with my quilts, and I'll turn on the new flat screen before I start.
These are long strips sewn together in threes, all ironed and ready to be cut into smaller pieces.
One and a half inch segments and three and a half inch segments...go together with three and a half inch squares...
to make one block. In the king size version I am making, there are forty-nine of this kind of block.
The second kind of block has a total of forty-nine pieces in it. I haven't even gotten all of the longs strips sewn together, and I'm not sure I have enough even cut because the pattern I'm using only gives directions for the twin size. Then too, in the past, I've cut the entire quilt before I have sewn a stitch. That's scary. What if the pattern isn't correct, or I've misunderstood, and the pieces are cut wrong and just won't fit together. Another consideration is whether or not what I think in my head is going to work color and print-wise is really going to look good in reality. It is recommended that you make one block of each that you will have to make sure that everything is right before cutting a whole quilt. Think about it. Do you really plan your entire anything before you proceed? Every minute of your day before you set foot out of bed? Every part of your life before you get to it? What if you change your mind or something unexpected comes up?
Even though I haven't cut everything, I have lots and lots and lots of similar little pieces. How to plan a block and then move it to the sewing machine? If I figure out the placement of the pieces and then try to move them, I can easily get confused when they are in piles and not laid out. Solution: a mini-design board.I saw a similar idea on www.thequiltshow.com. The guest used foam core board for the base. I found this self-stick board. Perfect!
I ironed some left over low-loft batting, smoothed it out on my cutting board, pulled off the adhesive, and placed the board sticky side down on the batting.
I used my rotary cutter to trim the excess batting.
Now I can lay out my pieces and then pick up the board to move to the sewing table. No more confusion! It's like a felt board back in elementary school. The pieces self-stick to the board without falling off. No pieces on the floor for Louie. Ha! 
From forty-nine pieces, I am down to nine...
then three pieces...
and finally, another completed block. I will need thirty-six complete blocks like this one, and twenty-four half blocks for the king size version. I think my new design board tool will be really helpful. Too bad the new TV wasn't as simple or inexpensive. I know "real quilters" have whole design walls. Don't think that's going to work for my space, but I can always use the guest room bed for that.
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