Diversion from the Doldrums

The Doldrums are not only an ocean region around the equator loathed by sailors because of its low winds or a place in the quirky kid's book The Phantom Toll Booth. The doldrums are also making their presence known in my sewing room. Sitting at my Pfaff I am definitely tiring of inserting triads between stars and pinwheel blocks and having to work so hard to match twelve pieces all in one point. The yellow highlight area  in the next photo illustrates two triads and the exasperating intersection of twelve points where their tips meet with a hexagon star above and a pinwheel hexagon below. This is definitely not a mindless chain piecing operation.

Although assembling Whirligiggles is going well, the process of aligning all those seams before stitching is a bit nerve wracking. Taking care to adhere stringently to seam pressing direction while safeguarding my fingertips is stressful and time consuming. I made myself rules. The left half-column gets pressed up at both the upper and lower edge of the triad insert. The right half-column gets pressed down at both the upper and lower edge of the triad insert. But only at the insert points - not at the pinwheel centers or star centers that fall where the half columns meet. See what I mean?

I was beginning to long for a simple Y-seam with its clever central swirl of seams on the back and the absence of that big central lump of accumulated seam allowances. Down the hall from my sewing room, the buzzer on the dryer sounded. I thought to myself, "Great – I get to go fold some laundry!" Clearly it was time to take a break. Whirligiggles was sinking down in its fun level and not living up to its name.

I glanced half-heartedly over at my table of leftover pieces for a distraction. I had squatty triangles in bright colors but not enough groups of three to make more triads – not that I needed any more of them.

I also had some pre-made grey/white  triads and some squatty neutral triangles leftover. Hmmm. What could they be used for? I distract very easily.

I made two more triads from the squatty triangles and joined them into a white star. I was lucky that the white on white heart print fabric also all pointed consistently as I would have planned, had this been planned. Heart points are directed to the center of each triad.

And I made up a grey star from an assortment of leftover triads. Again I got lucky. All the white on white heart tips point outward.

Then I realized I could have made those triads up as pinwheels. All the grey/white hexagons in Whirligiggles were pinwheels not stars. Perhaps I should "un-sew" them and reassemble them "correctly"? Then I shook some sense into myself. These were leftovers. These were just a temporary distraction from struggling with those column joins. Besides, when I had experimented for a partial pinwheel with an assortment of fabrics for the blades, I had not liked it. See my February 8, 2017 post for this quilt. These grey/white hexagons could remain different. Maybe they could become star pillows. Point to point they measure ~13" across; flat to flat they measure ~11.5" across so maybe an outside border of some sort can enlarge them. 

Even if they became nothing but an orphaned block, they served their intended purpose. They were a pleasant temporary diversion between joining columns 4 and 5. When I was refreshed and engaged again the next day, I finished off the final two columns. My next step is deciding what, if anything, to appliqué but I think this quilt top needs to marinate on my design wall for a while, first. For now I will join up with Let's Bee Social #166.