Sashaying en Provence

I think I'm still on schedule to finish the flimsy for Bonnie Hunter's 2016 mystery, En Provence, by the end of the month. As of today, all the sashing is done:

Like several others, I made a couple changes in the sashing. Instead of hourglasses, I made the dark green Tri Recs sections. That will make the circle effect of the blocks more pronounced. Actually, it is also more like Bonnie Hunter's previous mystery, Celtic Solstice. I didn't make that one, and now maybe I won't have to!

I also used an all-white four patch section in the centre of the sashing, instead of the dark green/light green four patch in the pattern. Somehow, the circle works better if that is white.

Here are four more blocks done, one with three sides of sashing sewn on:

And, to zoom in on a few details...

In my stash I found this coral and pink Iza Pearl print from the Garden Party Tango collection. The flamingos are all Iza Pearl too. Obviously, this one needed to be fussy cut!

I also found two large scale Free Spirit prints.

I call them "optimized," rather than strictly fussy cut. :D

And, zooming in even further, you can see some of the light aqua flamingo blender in the "white" four patch in the centre. The pink flamingo blender is also scattered among the whites.

So, fingers crossed, the next post will be the finished flimsy.

Journey to Provence

Have you ever done this?

Mountains en Provence?

You have to be very organized to screw up in this particular way! Yesterday morning I slowly and carefully started to put together my new hourglasses for Bonnie Hunter's 2016 mystery quilt, En Provence:

I slowly and carefully picked up two pieces with my left hand and one piece with my right, pinned them, butted the seams, and sewed almost all the way across before I realized! Not a good start, but after that things went smoothly. And I think everyone will agree that the black is a lot better in these units than the light aqua I tried first, here.

But, to back it up, I have been sewing like a maniac for over a week now. When Bonnie revealed the mystery on January 1, which you can see here for a few more weeks, I was way behind. I had finished Clue #2, the Tri-Recs units in our constant fabric, and Clue #3, the green four patches. After the reveal I decided to go back to Clue #1 and make over 100 white four patches, about a zillion more Tri-Recs units (that's certainly how it felt) for Clue #4, and the big HSTs for Clue #5:

This is NOT all of them

For the low-volume, all white units, I pulled some fairly high volume fabrics from my stash:

I am actually sick to death of all my low volume text fabrics, and fortunately they are nearly gone anyway. I will not be buying more! But I do like how these new fabrics worked. And they've already given me a new idea for another quilt!

Don't worry, I will finish this one first! To avoid distractions, I forced myself to get all the units done before I made a block. And, I also sewed as much of the block background as possible before I put in the pinks. The selection of pinks is a little different now than last time:

And tonight, finally, one block is done:

It is pretty sparky, I think, with the high volume blacks and whites, as well as the contrast between my very dark and very light greens. But I like it, and the sashing will tame it a little. The white fabric in the corners will be a constant in the sashing, so that will tie it all together more. I have a fancy border planned for the flamingo fabric, and I have high hopes for how that will turn out.

One block done, eight to go, plus pieced sashing and pieced border. My One Monthly Goal is to finish the flimsy by the end of January, and I think I am on track. In the meantime, check out all the other En Provence quilts in the link up here, including a few finished quilts. The key to finishing fast is to stick to the pattern, but I am happy with my progress too. :D