I know rwquilts, I think they were a challenge for all of us. We all learned something new in making this quilt. I got the sashing, cornerstones and triangles all cut out yesterday. Still moving those blocks around and around and around on my display board. I think I have them finalized and find that the ones with the butterfly centers are right next to another one. Awwwww! Move that one, then find the colors are right up to another with the same colors. It seems to go on and on! :-P

By chance do you have a patio door or picture window? And could hang a flannelette sheet from the curtain rod, then pin on your blocks?
Or someone took them to the park?
Or access to a community/church hall etc. to put together your layout?

You've come too far, to not keep on motoring along with this!! :lol:

I did mine a few rows at a time. Are you doing yours on point? I did mine on point and, starting with top left, I put as many as would fit on my design wall (which is essentially 52" square because I can't reach all the way to the top even standing on my tiptoes). When I was happy with the layout of top left corner (9 blocks), I played around with the next few rows ... laid out on my cutting table, which is 40" x 72". I could only lay out about 3 rows on the cutting table, and as the rows got longer, the blocks overlapped, but that was o.k. I made sure that the blocks in the rows I had already sewn and the ones next to be sewn looked o.k. next to one another. After the long rows were done, I reverted back to the original method and put the bottom shorter rows on the design wall.

Frankly, I decided that laying all the blocks out at once (if I had had the space to do so) probably would be at least as maddening and frustrating as the method I used. It did occur to me more than once that I would be left with a handful of blocks that didn't fit anywhere ... and, in fact, I did have some ornery ones, but managed in the end to re-make only one block and all the rest fit in o.k.

I have my blocks in a plastic baggie and it's been traveling with me wherever I go and I have yet to take them out of the bag. I too have an area problem...I'm trying to remember who it was that layed out their blocks on a king size sheet ..pinned them then folded up the sheet to put it away without disturbing the blocks. Sounds pretty good to me. I' will try to make time too do that when I get home from NC. Anner

Received my order from Jo-Anns of seam tape and batting, so now I am back in business.

I finally decided, after moving those blocks around and around, that who on earth is going to look that closely at the placement of those blocks? They will look at the quilt as a whole and not really notice if that fabric/color is right next to the same fabric/color, or whatever! I'm just not going to look at it any more, and just DO it! Put those babies together and get on with it!

On my first quilt, I've decided on the border design, so will practice that, then get it done as well. The end of this quilt is in sight everyone! Yeah!

Hello Ladies ... am I inspired or what? I took some of my quilts to one of our local Fairs this weekend and guess what, the Grand Champion Quilt (not by me) was a sampler.

I've posted it here with my Fair results ......
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-153488-1.htm

I don't think the Grand is a FWS. Do you think DJ? or perhaps Civil War?

It was all machine quilted ... I couldn't get a good enough look to determine if it was QAYG or after the fact. The sashing was all black and the border a greenish/tan sort of colour. The realistic colour shows best in one of the other pics, where it shows in a corner.

I'm hoping to get a better/closer look at it when I pick my things up on Sunday.

And yes .... it's given me huge inspiration to get going on my FWS soon ... when I get my life back again! :)

VERY nice sampler, but not DJ or FW. I have no knowledge of civil war sampler(s?) though. Are those blocks 6" ones?

It was a lovely one ... and yes, 6" blocks.

I think what appealed to me the most was the colour that was there, but not in your face colour. Just enough zip though, to not have it looking too blahhhh. The black sashing helped eveything to pop ... and interesting that the border was kept as subtle as it was, rather than the frame up like an oversized sashing.

It was a great nudge of ideas towards my FWS.

Sorry if this seems like an afterthought, but congrats on your wins at the fair!

This, however, IS an afterthought: any civil war quilts & fabrics that I've seen always bring the word "dreary" to my mind and that winning sampler has cheery blocks, like the nosegay and the fan, etc., and no dreary or drab ones, so I am curious to know if the quilt maker had a specific book she followed.