Stacks of Coins

Famous last words:  I will not be rushing through this quilt.
Yes, I wrote those words and I meant it.  Really I am not rushing, but this is going quickly because my process is to cut a bunch of strips and then sit down at the machine in odd minutes and sew strip sets.  I was planning to put all the strip sets in one photo.  Then I started laying them on the floor to photograph.... Hmmm, this is going to take two photos.

The shortest stack set in the photos is more than 24" in length. These sets are not actually joined together. (and this is not the way it will be laid out.)  Some of the stacks are as many as four sets laid together.  And while they look crooked in the photo, each small set is actually straight.  In fact keeping it straight is the main reason for working in short sets.  Then there is the other reason - I am planning a layout something like the mockup below:

Of course, it will be a bit more random. Chances are good that none of the stacks will match in length to the one next to it.  I will make this in three or four long strips: left side, middle section(s) and right side.  This will allow me to quilt each section and then join them to make the final quilt.  It is much easier for me to quilt it on my domestic machine this way.

Another interesting thing that I want to share with you is about fabrics.  When I was cutting these strips I was reminded that fabric has two sides and sometimes each side has merit. It is quite okay to use the 'back' of the fabric as the front.  Early in my quilting journey, I bought some fabric that was put on the bolt with the wrong side facing out. It had been placed in the clearance bin and was a great bargain.  I didn't realize that the wrong side was out, but I liked the dreamy quality  that was displayed.  I still have some of that fabric and I am using it in this quilt.  I am also using a "woodland scene" fabric that is quite nice on the reverse side.

Fabrics A and B are the same fabric but seen from different sides.  A is the back and B is the front. There is no purple apparent in B, but in A it shows nicely.
C and D are the fabric that I bought looking at the back side.  While the back side is softer in color and has a dream-like quality,  the front is bolder and is accented with a metallic overlay on the clouds.
The takeaway lesson is this - look at the back side of your fabric and see if you can use the "other" side.  For scrappy quilts, this increases the number of fabrics you can use.  If you don't put them close together it will rarely be noticed.

Another fun thing to do is - if you have a stripe fabric is to cut strips going both ways.  I used this with one of my stripe fabrics in the above strip sets.
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