Piecing takes a long time, especially when every seam makes me rethink an entire area.  The two layouts above and the one to the right are earlier versions, from last week.  Today, I decided my polar bears will not be wandering around on ice, but swimming.

Already, large and completed sections have flown off the table into two other separate quilts.  The last large Global Warming Quilt that I made started out about this size and ended up as three smaller quilts.  I am still hoping to integrate the bottom section with the polar section and to create a large-ish piece (3′ x 4′), although it is not yet clear that I’ll be able to make the hot and cool sections work together.

Today was a good sewing day, with only one call to go out.  I took Jack to Wellesley for errands.  We shopped for apples, bird seed, and sand and salt.  The walkways have thawed a little in the last day or so, but it is still pretty treacherous out there.

In spite of much effort, though, I did not progress very far on the quilt.  This business of making the pieces, which become larger pieces, all work together, is not as easy as one might imagine.  I have never done this process on the kitchen table before. As much as having my work upstairs (instead of down in the cellar/studio) gets aggravating on account of the mess, it is useful to be glancing at the design at different points of the day.  A different part of the brain can get engaged.  Also, I am happy to report that I woke from a nap today with a novel idea for how to attach the bears. Yet another part of the brain!

Changing viewing orientation or scale can be useful in design.  If the colors and patterns are well laid out, they will work in any direction.