charm quilt

i called in sick (again) today. see, i was actually sick on monday when i called in sick. today, well, i don't have any classes, and i hardly have a voice, and while i'm still a little stuffy and sneeze-y, honestly, i just couldn't be bothered to go and sit at a desk for over 8 hours, just wasting time, looking busy, counting down the time until i could go home.

after putzing around most of the morning, finally doing the dishes, and sending out an email to my parents and their 5 friends who are coming to japan in april, i sat down with my scraps. i have received 24 envelopes so far. add in my own set and right now i've got 250 squares. they look something like this:


and they are so much fun!!! i debated all the different ways i could make them into a quilt. i wanted to only use the scraps from the scrap exchange, with no border (apparently this is called "sashing") between the squares or anything. i love the random look of the baby charm quilt (here) and originally decided to make one like that.

then i thought, i could make 10 square strips, one from each person and then line them up in two lines for a 13 by 20 square quilt, with each person's squares in a row.

but then i saw this and this and liked the rainbow/color organized idea. so i sorted:


then i started laying them out on a sheet:


and eventually it looked like this:


it's currently spread out in my bedroom and every time i walk by, i switch a square or two (and even looking at it now, there are squares i want to switch!). i have two holes on the green side because i'm still waiting on one last envelope (it's in the mail) and there were a couple squares i didn't use because they were a bit too small. i'm not sure what i'm going to do about that. even with another ten, i won't be able to make another row, so i'll have to figure something out when i get the last ten and see where and how they fit into the color pattern. i might take out a couple of my own squares (or my favorites) and sew them into the back to add a little character. we'll see!

i'm excited to get sewing and can't wait to see how it all comes together. fun fun!



p.s. i just realized this is my 300th post. wow.