Batik Bentos -

I REALLY wanted to see what these Bento Boxes -

Would look like in BATIKS - ;))

The other "jelly roll" that I wanted to play with is actually a "flat-pack" -
By Island Batik - Glowing Embers -
That I showed you before - HERE -

Two sets of 20 strips -

Since I need two strips for each block -
20 blocks - layout 4x5 -
Approximately - 48"x 60" -

And the strips seem to contrast with each other as they are laid out -

I didn't get fancy -

I just took the top strip off the bottom row and put it at the other end -

Then peeled them off - two at a time -

Instant mix and match - LOL - ;))

I stitched up the first set of three -

And had the fourth one under the needle -

But since I wanted to play with all four at the same time -

I pressed the next pair of strips and sewed them together -

Using them as my TWEEN -
The stuff I sew beTWEEN other parts -

And that got the fourth one out from under the needle -

So I continued building the blocks -

Four at a time -

Using strip sets TWEEN them as needed - ;))

After I get the first batch pressed -

I'll show you the "glamour" shots tomorrow - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Plan B -

I changed my mind - LOL -

I realized that I didn't need/want another table topper -

So I decided to sew the EXTRA 9 Bento Boxes into "regular" blocks -

The 10th one off to the side -
Is the one that I made three instead of four -

Then I decided to send them ALL -

The first 10 sets of 3 and the EXTRA 9 -

To my friend, Frog Quilter, to layout and make into a Quilty Hug -

She's super-fast at making these blocks -

And has already made her flimsy - HERE -

So I asked her if she wanted to play with these -

And she graciously said, "Yes" -

I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing what she does with them -

She has an amazing "eye" and makes AWESOME quilts - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Mixed up Bento Box - layout -

So the rest of them went up on the design wall -

It's not perfect -

Or beautiful -

But it's OK -

And it will "do" -

I could spend a week mixing them up -

But I don't want to -

I'm getting bored with these blocks and colors -

And I want to play with another jelly roll -

So the sooner I get into a flimsy -

The sooner I can play with something else - LOL - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Mixed up Bentos -

So I mixed up the EXTRA Bento Box parts -

And laid out the first three blocks -

This might actually work - LOL - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Extra Bentos -

My friend, Gene Black, posted images of some quilts he worked up in EQ using my "Xob Otneb" - HERE - we agreed that they would make your eyes hurt if you looked at them for long - LOL - ;))

The "regular" version of the blocks have enough "motion" for me -

And I want to play with the EXTRAS -

The EXTRAs are from the fourth jelly roll -
Since I only needed three jelly rolls (60 strips) for the big quilt top -
I decided to make some more Bento Boxes for a table topper -

I have nine sets of Lights and Darks -

But I want to mix them up a little this time -

So I arranged the Darks by value -
Darkest on top -
Medium in the middle -
Lightest on bottom -

Then I edited the photo to read as Black/White -
To see if I had the values in order from darkest to lightest -

And it looks pretty good to me -

But I think the third one in the middle row -
Should be swapped with the first one in the bottom row -

Now to mix them up - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Almost done -

Another set of Bento Boxes -

And the last set -

Leaving the tray of EXTRAs -
From the EXTRA fourth jelly roll -

Nine sets of Light and Dark -
For nine blocks - layout 3 x 3 -
For a table topper - about 36" x 36" -

I messed up my very first block and had to use two of the EXTRA strips to fix it -
So - instead of 10 blocks from this roll - I only have 9 -

I want to mix them up a bit -

So I might play with them before I layout the big one -

We'll see how I feel about it tomorrow - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Keeping on -

Keeping on - ;))

So after my "Xob Otneb" oopsie -

I left the Extra Dark Blue ones on my ironing board for reference -

And worked my way through the rest of them -

Working from the cookie sheet/tray -

One set at a time -

With the next ones cut and ready to sew -

One set -

Right after the other -

Only two more sets to go - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Xob Otneb -

The plan for today was to finish the repeats for this block -

Now that I have my "system" down pat - LOL -

Press the two on the left -
Finish the one under the needle -

Stitch these up -

And continue on with those on the left for the next set of blocks -

All ready for the top piece -

Sewn on -

Pressed -
And ready to be sewn into half blocks -

But WAIT!!! -

It's BACKWARDS!! -

It's NOT a "Bento Box" -

It's a "Xob Otneb" - LOL - ;))

It should look like THIS!!-

In the photo below -
The one on top is what a LIGHT QUARTER block SHOULD look like -
And the LEFT one is what mine SHOULD look like -

But my "Xob Otneb" looks like the one on the RIGHT - and it's WRONG -

The FIRST piece - that little two patch - on the BOTTOM LEFT - is UPSIDE DOWN -
And I messed up BOTH sets -
Light AND dark TIMES SIX - UGH!! -

BOB - I thought you had your "system" down pat!! -
ME - I DID - yesterday - but I've slept since then - LOL - ;))

So Jack (my seam ripper) and I spent the afternoon together -
And we un-sewed them all - more quality time with my good friend - LOL -

Then we started over -

And laid them all out again the way they were supposed to go -

And sewed them together - like the top two -

There - MUCH BETTER - ;))

NOTE TO SELF - Pay attention!! -
It's a "simple" block - but don't get careless -
It's also VERY EASY to mess up - turn one piece upside-down -
Or sew something to the wrong side - and look what happens - LOL -
Leave a couple of the EXTRA ones out - for reference -
So you can compare them to what you're doing - as you go along -
And be glad you caught it before you did them ALL that way - LOL - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

More Bento Boxes - 2 -

So this morning I cut the blue ones -

The ones on the right are the last couple of yesterday's repeats to sew together -

All set for the next step -

Sewn and pressed -
Light and dark x 6 -

Quarter blocks -
Light and dark x 6 -

Ready to be sewn into half blocks -

Two full blocks -

I set aside two lights and two darks for the EXTRA blocks - later -

Three sets almost done -

Six waiting their turn -

And the rest of these on the schedule for tomorrow - ;))

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

More Bento Boxes - 1 -

On to the rest of the jelly rolls -

All sorted -

And matched on the cookie sheet -

Then the EXTRA (fourth) roll -
Might as well do the same with that one -

It's short two strips because I mis-cut my very first block -
And used part of those two strips to replace the "oopsie" cut -
But I can still make nine blocks from what I have left -
And that will be enough for a table topper - 36" x 36" -

Here's a close up of the doodads on my last couple of blocks -
For those of you who were curious as to what they were -

So - I got the first two sets of repeats done -

Leaving me with these yet to do -

And these three to play with tomorrow - ;))

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -