Long Time Gone, Week 10, 11 & 12

My Number One Fan reminded me yesterday that I haven’t posted this week.  Sorry, Mom!  I’ve been distracted from the blog with managing my quilting business and learning to be social.  It’s hard!
I have kept up with my Long Time Gone, and I’m still on track to finish on time.  This group was all about half square triangles.  I confess – I used a quick piecing technique to piece 8 blocks at a time, rather than the two at a time technique given in the pattern.  My Quilter’s Planner has a conversion chart in the back – it’s so handy.  I’ll be using it for next week, too, which involves a lot of flying geese blocks.
Week 10: Half Square Triangle 1
Week 11: Half Square Triangle 2
Week 12: Half Square Triangle 3
And, because I was a little overwhelmed by having all of the blocks in a pile, I put together section 3 of the quilt, since I don’t have all of the pieces for sections 1 or 2.  I decided to use a solid white as both sashing and the light color in the checkerboards.  I’m trying to give the eye a place to rest a bit on this very busy quilt.

Piecing all of the little checkerboards was pretty time consuming.  Someone on Instagram, I can’t remember who, suggested doing a leader/ender technique for these squares, which is a fantastic idea.  I wish I had seen it before starting.  Cut a lot of the squares for the checkerboards, and leave them next to your sewing machine.  As you work on projects, grab a pair of squares and  stitch them together.  Since I’m a little uptight about wasting thread and making a mess, I try to always be chain piecing.  I hate pulling a piece off of the machine and leaving a 2-3″ tail of thread that just goes in the trash.  By using a leader/ender I never have those long tails to cut off, and I’m working on a long-term project a bit at a time.  When I’m ready to put these checkerboard bits together, I already have a bunch of the work done.