6and6in2018 is Getting a Few Results!

The 6and6in2018 for July crept up on me pretty fast. I've been working on my oldest quilt top off an on, trying to get it finished up for this particular linkup. It was part of a series started a very long time ago and one that ended up being monstrously large. So big {105" x 107"} that I never wanted to actually quilt it myself. Do you blame me? What was I thinking?

9-Patch Building Blocks is a finish!

For awhile I planned on having it professionally quilted and then decided it wasn't worth spending that kind of money on. I tentatively decided to hand quilt it and even had a grand stitching plan, special piece of batting bought and everything. Meh.  Still not feeling it and quite honestly, almost gave the quilt top away to a group of ladies I know who make a quilt every year for a fundraiser.

What was holding me back was all the hand work along the edge. That applique border took me forever and was something I felt pretty proud of at the time. It felt so creative!  In hindsight I wish it could have been completed fairly quickly so it could have been one of those celebratory finishes we all love so much. All's well that ends well though as my youngest son really admires the size and simplicity of the design. Yay! It's only been a year and a half since he got a new quilt, but if he likes this one, then I'm a whole year ahead of the gifting-a-quilt-for-graduation thing that I do. Bonus!

It's a big one...

Oh yeah, the details. I finally broken down and decided to sandwich and pin this quilt for machine quilting on my Bernina 740. It has a larger harp than my old machine {the backup these days}, so it seemed doable, at least in abstract. Lets just say that I will probably never, EVER do that again. The machine handled it just fine, no problems there, but the sandwiching, pinning and marking took forever and many more days. Ughh....  Not fun at all.

I used an orange/gold Aurifil thread for stitching and various pieces of green fabrics {pulled from deep down in the stash totes} to make a scrappy binding. It's all done now and washed up in a very loose, drapey feel that my son will love. After he popped a bunch of quilting threads on the last quilt {pushing his feet into it and stretching out like the total dork that he is}, I have given him the big fat lecture on how to properly treat a quilt: Feel free to use it, maul it, snuggle up in and generally wrap up and/or drool on. Wipe your Cheeto fingers on it if you must! but please, please stop with the gross mistreatment!

The basket is my favorite part

And no it wasn't old, sun faded thread or anything like that. It took awhile and much pondering and panicking about other quilts that I've gifted. Would people tell me if their quilts are coming apart at the seams? We finally narrowed it down to the problem child though.*whew! I take care of my threads and don't use garbage for machine quilting so that's that. This new quilt will be a great test quilt to see if he's learned anything or actually even heard a word that his mom said. Hmm... How does this even happen to a quilter? Not sure I'd place any money on this particular bet though and you can be sure he won't be getting a very impressive quilt anytime soon.....

Patchwork Triangles a new quilt top!

The quilt top for Patchwork Triangles is done now too. It was on the 6in6in2018 list as well. Just cut-off triangles in the beginning, but they certainly shaped up into a fun looking quilt top! So glad I challenged myself with these as I always get such a charge out of figuring out something to do with the orphaned bits and pieces. The sharp yellow solid fabric was bought at a quilt show last year just because I couldn't resist. Love seeing it end up in something like this! The top ended up being 62 1/2" x 68 1/2", so a nice sized lap quilt that could be a sweet gift for one of our extended family members some day. Loving the slightly vintage looking vibe of it all and feeling more determined than ever to keep playing with the castoffs.

A good border works wonders

And you've already seen the quilt top pics for the HaHa quilt. So glad that one is finished up and out of my hair for now. I knew it had to be on this list to receive any more attention this year, and yep, that's exactly what happened. I'd look at the list and start to feel guilt pains if I kept pushing it aside. It's so interesting that with some quilts we can't hardly make ourselves quit working on them and others? Wow! Such a slog. Never seriously want to get busy with them, although that doesn't mean we don't like them just as much in the end!

HaHa quilt checked off the list too

I haven't been keeping very good track of new quilts as this list has been more valuable for keeping me on task for finishing. There is never a problem with wanting to start new quilts around here so not gonna worry about that for now!

Washington cherries are the best

My cousin unexpectedly dropped off three boxes of cherries this afternoon. After making a few phone calls and unloading two of them {they needed immediate attention}, I decided to freeze the rest. It doesn't take much time, just have to wash them, pick all the stems off and toss the bad cherries. They don't even have to be totally dry before putting them in freezer Ziplocs and then later in the year they are a great snack for the {bottomless stomach}, youngest son. We ate frozen cherries like candy when we were kids. Junk food? That was for summer picnics and vacation. Linking up with Meredithe and Anne for 6and6in2018-July!

A 2015 Finish!

Finally, a 2015 finish! Yay me!! I was so dreading getting this quilt washed after the last two quilts with red fabrics had bleeding issues. Well, needless to say it hindered me a bit from wanting to get the binding taken care of in a timely fashion.

Imagine a Quilt is finished!

Thankfully there were NO problems here. I had to wash in cold water first to get the blue wash-out markings to go away. And yes, I did throw in about six color catchers, but they weren't even that pink afterwards. More of a dirty brownish color which I assume was from a mixture of all the dyes? Lovely to see my cream fabrics unblemished by any floating dyes though!

All ready to be snuggled up with....

Really big sigh of relief . And it looks so cozy now. I am a bit addicted to the freestyle baptist fan pattern as you can see. It just seemed like the thing to do on the borders with all the applique. I know it gets in the way of reading the words, but really, only from a distance. Up close the stitching doesn't seem to be a distraction at all. The machine quilting on this quilt was only through the sashing and along the edges of the 9 patches. Everything else is hand quilting. Of course.

Loving that stitching....

You know me and my hand quilting obsession. It's terribly hard to make the decision to do any machine quilting, because I much prefer the look of hand quilting in the style of quilts I make. It's part of what makes me love the finished product.

And now facing the other direction...

This quilt is #3 in the 9-Patch Series I was working on in 2012. It's also the third one to be checked off the list. Wowsers am I making progress here.*wink

And the last picture, promise...

Okay, that's it. Enough about this quilt. I've got others begging for attention too....

Always Some Hand Quilting Going on Behind the Scenes....

After machine quilting through the sashing and alongside the 9-patch blocks, there really is minimal area left to hand quilt. I started out with a chunky, red, big stitch look and then, after completing only one frame, ripped it out and started over. This time with a very light lime green thread.

Imagine a Quilt in the hoop

I just felt that this quilt didn't need anything to distract from what the cream background squares do for the quilt--calming it down and giving it a peaceful, almost serene look. I'm really enjoying working with this quilt again in spite of being disappointed that I'm not big stitching. For some reason, that was what I was in the mood to do right now! The fabric and color combination is very soothing to me though. Every single 9-patch has one piece of the same exact blue floral and then the rest is scrappy {with a lot of repeats}. I don't know how to describe it except for the fact that it just feels good to me!

Through the years I am constantly pulling out an older quilt top to hand quilt and then all the while, working on a zillion 'current' quilt projects. This has often caused some overlap in the way I work with my quilting, such as me starting Quarter Circles Round #2 after hand quilting my first Quarter Circles quilt and things like making my Cactus Basket blocks in the colors I did, no doubt because I was busily hand quilting my Spring Forward quilt at the same time.

Getting close to the border work...

This influence of older quilt to new, and back and forth as I add design elements and detail, is a constant, occurring over and over in my quilt room. I like to think that it adds depth to my quilts as nothing is ever really finished in a rush or pushed off for the next little bit of whimsy that catches my eye. Of course, some quilts languish for years waiting for that last little bit of detail, but we won't be mentioning that.*wink

Scrappy Tulips

And last but not least, I went ahead and added a border onto Scrappy Tulips. It's a very vivid floral print that dulls the sashing down just a bit, but at the same time, adds a bit of drama that the quilt seems to need. I'm definitely going to have to change out that pink square for a red one and then try to find something for the next border that pulls out the brighter colors again. Always a challenge, these make-it-up-as-you-go-along types of quilts....

On To the Next Quilt!

Next up in the hoop! I decided to go with #3 in the 9-patch series because it should be simple, fun and very no-pressure. I've already started machine quilting through the sashing and also around the blocks just to stabilize the quilt. Not that it needs it, but hey, why hand quilt the entire quilt when it doesn't necessarily need the extra love?

Imagine A Quilt ( #3 in the 9-patch series)

After that part is finished, then I plan to put it in the hoop and get busy with the hand quilting details. It will add some great texture and make me feel better {like I'm not being quite so lazy *wink}. It will also make the border especially easy to stitch as machine quilting anywhere near applique work makes me break out in a cold sweat.

And a closer look

This quilt was started back in 2011 but of course it wasn't ready for quilting until at least a year later. There are rarely any fast, back to back start-to-finish type quilts made around here, but that's okay. Everything in its time.....

Spring Forward!--2014 Spring Bloggers Quilt Festival

Spring Forward is my first entry in the 2014 Spring Bloggers Quilt Festival. I started this quilt a couple years ago as part of a 9-patch series I was working on.

Spring Forward

As I continued working through my series quilts, I had to go back to this one (the first one) and add in some extra borders and of course, character. It ended up being kind of a tongue-in-cheek laugh at my awkwardness at dealing with Daylight Savings, thus the clumsy looking tulip and appliqued words.

The 9-patch blocks centerpiece

All the applique was done in the freehand style, although I did draw the letters on paper first before a quick re-draw on the fabric. As usual, I used my favorite method of needleturn applique. I've tried several different applications, but keep coming back to needleturn as it just seems to have less overall prep time involved and I'm all for getting right to work when I'm in the mood to be doing some hand work.

A bigger view of Spring Forward

This quilt was entirely hand quilted using a combination of regular quilting thread, size #8 Perle Cotton and also #5 Perle Cotton. If you've been following along with my posts, you'll know that the #5 thread was quite a challenge for me. Now that this quilt is done, I can confidently say that I will be using the larger #5 thread on future quilts, but very selectively. It's definitely not for every quilt! But oh... the texture..... It really is incomparable!

Loving the texture

Spring Forward came out of the dryer at approx. 68" x 77", a great lap sized quilt. For those of you who expressed concern over the Perle Cotton shrinking unattractively, no worries! I only 'half'' dried my quilt in the dryer as I do with all my quilts, then I laid it flat on the floor to finish drying. I am so in love with that just (freshly) washed and dried look that I can't resist petting my quilts for a little bit right after.

My big awkward tulip

I thought the binding would be a lovely blue color, but the correct fabric never materialized. You know how it is when you have something particular in mind and then nothing works out properly. I found wide strips of this light pink toile languishing in the fabric totes (leftovers from a quilt backing) and impulsively gave it an audition. Hmm...  Love how it lightens the entire quilt in a very subtle but positive fashion.

And the cheerful birdie...

Still so amazing that these quilts on my blog are actually made by ME!! Woot woot! After years of trying to learn how to do my own thing, I can finally see the pieces starting to fit together in a way that makes sense and more importantly, seems to have a way of building and/or flowing from quilt to quilt.

Very fun to have a couple quilts in this festival and also get an opportunity to check out the many wonderful entries! There's a lot of enviable talent out there people! And it's such a great way to find new blogger friends and find inspiration too. A big thanks to Amy for all her hard work in putting this together!

Making Time For Spring Forward

Next up in the hoop is 'Spring Forward', the #1 quilt in my 9-patch series. I wanted a change from the blue and reds I've been working with and this quilt seemed like the obvious choice. Well..., why wouldn't it be? Springtime where art thou? lol

Spring Forward

Actually we're seeing wonderful signs of spring around here! Those hardy tulips out by the drive are looking like they're going to bloom again this year which always makes happy. Gotta love that cheery red that comes up every year regardless of their neglect and abuse (really bad place to have planted tulips when you have rowdy kids like I do). And honestly, they look waaay better than the tulip, or whatever kind of flower it is, will ever look in this particular quilt.

The awkward flower

I deliberately made this flower look awkward and clumsy because that's exactly how I feel every year at Daylight Savings time. They (whomever THEY are) arbitrarily jerk an hour out of my Sunday and expect me to carry on like nothing ever happened. Ha. It usually messes up my entire week until I finally fall in with the program.

I included a happy birdy...

But THEN, at Fall Daylight Savings, I totally understand what it's all about. Getting an whole extra hour to sleep in? My. Favorite. Day. Ever. hehe Anyway, It's a fun quilt and one I'm looking forward to trying out my #5 Perle Cotton thread on. I'll keep you posted on how that all works out for me.

It's Been Pretty Busy Around Here

There's been a whole lot of this (teen-age late night snack attacks) going on the last several days with all the cousins in town and....

Just a little snack mom.....

not very much of this (below). Ahhh... I do so want to get back into my quilting room and get to work!  I have had loads of company over the last week with family and friends coming into town to celebrate a 50th anniversary party for some cousins of ours. Our house has been practically bursting at the seams. Wonderful event to be sure, but let me tell you, all of my towels and sheets got washed more than once before it was over. In fact, I'm still catching up with that and there's also a small concern of clean socks and underwear in some quarters. lol Priorities you know.

#2 in the 9-patch series

I did manage to get my #2 in the 9-patch series quilted and bound in time to give as a gift, but it was nip and tuck there for awhile!  I ended using the leftover dark brown fabric from the Vertical Basket Quilt for the binding which I worried was too dark? I also somehow managed to cut an important machine quilted thread and then had to do some last minute 'fix-its' (thank goodness I had saved the bobbin thread), plus I never did find time to get a proper picture.  Oh well.  I just threw it over something and snapped a few pictures just for posterity and called it good! I really like how it turned out overall.  Amazing how that happens when we're so unsure! Not completely thrilled about a couple of small puckers in the back--that NEVER happens with hand quilting, just saying!--but I think the combination of machine quilting and hand quilting worked out very well for this quilt. Hopefully this week I'll find time to get another quilt top in the hoop, but for right now, I'm just trying to catch my breath and maybe get caught up. Till next time!

Vintage Reproduction is in the Home Stretch Now!

I can't believe how fast the hand quilting has went on the last border of the Vintage Reproduction quilt! Yesterday I finished up and wallah! There I was ironing off the quilt marking. I had to be careful because I used a blue wash-out marking pen on the corner bird blocks and those particular markings cannot handle excess heat.

Ironing marks off the last border of Vintage Reproduction.

I ended up using 'Miracle Marker' on the last border because I needed a light colored quilting line and I thought it would be quicker than trying to use one of my white pencils.  The marking lines are a little rougher than a pencil, but that sort of thing doesn't bother me much.  Nothing about my quilts are ever going to be perfect! In fact, *groan, I ended up noticing two spots (see where I put the safety pins?) that needed a quick fix.  I was doing so much of the hand quilting in the evening with less than wonderful lighting, working with black thread on a dark purple border and the rest of the story pretty much writes itself. Yep, it was impossible to leave 'as is' and hope nobody would ever notice....

Uh oh, problems with the quilting...

This quilt needs to be done by Friday, July 19th in order to be entered into our local quilt show and I'm feeling good about making that deadline now. I checked out several different colors for possible binding use.  This is a tough one.  I kind of like the cheddar yellow, but then it almost seems to dull the quilt down in an odd sort of way? Pink is definitely out--too much of that in the quilt.  Blue is bland, green is pathetic, and black disappears. Agghhh!!  I finally decided to try lavender.

Found a binding that might work for the
Vintage Reproduction.

I didn't have any really amazing lavender fabrics, but then I remembered a box of abandoned binding my mom gave to me years and years ago.  It was all wadded up in a ball, strings everywhere from where she tears the fabric, but yes! There was one long piece (over 300 inches) of a lavender binding! I had to spend quite a bit of time cutting threads, smoothing it out, ironing it and then cutting it down to the size of binding I prefer (2 5/8"). All I need now is about 43" more inches of something that will blend in and I'm set! Love these frugal finds! lol

Getting the next quilt in the hoop!

I've already put the next quilt in the hoop. You know me. Always have to have something ready to work on when I'm in the mood! This is the #2 in the 9-patch series that I did the machine quilting on the other day. There are just 12 sampler blocks that I left un-quilted with the idea of coming back and hand quilting them on a later date. Which is now of course, because the hoop is empty and would probably feel lonely and useless without a quilt in it.*wink

Lots of Distractions These Days

I'm a little behind on the Pickle Dish progress.  Too many distractions in and outside of the quilt room lately. This time I finished up three (3!!) sets in one sitting, so I'm feeling pretty smug about that even though my goal was to finish up two sets a week through the summer and I somehow skipped a week.  Or two.  Who's counting?

3 more sets of Pickle Dish melons

The machine quilting is all finished up on the #2 in the 9-patch series. Only one little pucker on the front of the quilt and I've already removed the thread I was using from the machine, so... too bad, so sad.  I did end up fixing about eight ugly puckers on the back of the quilt that I couldn't bear to leave in the quilt though.  Next time there will be about three thousand more pins basting my quilt I assure you.

MQ done on #2 in 9-patch series

I'd like to dive in and start hand quilting the sampler blocks, but I just can't do that right now.  The Vintage Reproduction quilt really needs my entire hand quilting time until it's finished.  I'd actually like to have it done in order to put it into the local quilt show the third week in July.  Eek! No pressure. I've only known about the quilt show all year long....

Always a little more hand quilting to do on
the Vintage Reproduction quilt.

Like I said.  Too many distractions right now.  There's just something about having the kids home for the summer that disturbs the normal vibrations in the house.  My schedule is not my own.  I'm assuming that's the reason I find myself wanting to play with strange (for me) combinations of color and fabric and ignore the other projects that I once found so fascinating?

Can't resist playing...

I know it couldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact that my youngest son is constantly asking, making, or cleaning up the mess from making lemonade.*wink

Machine Quilting Obstacles (Otherwise Known as Puckers)

I know I hop, skip and jump around from project to project.  It is what it is. Progress in tiny little steps instead of leaps and bounds. Some of us actually work better that way!  I learned to stop fighting the expected methods of progress a long time ago.  My quilts and I are much happier with the new plan.*wink

Sandwiching a quilt top

This was what I decided to do yesterday.  Well, actually, I decided to do this sometime last week and then managed to put it off for a few more days out of absolute dread and reluctance.

Pin basting

I'm a hand quilter.  I might not be very good at it! but that's how I finish up almost all my quilts and have now for a lot of years.  The problem is, I'm starting to get quilt tops stacked up to the sky and I'll never be able to complete them if I just stick to the hand quilting program. (Insert very sad face. Really, really sad face.)

Learning to use my walking foot

You know I love the look of hand quilting, but priorities must be made. So now I have a walking foot which needs to be used so I can stop feeling guilty about the purchase price and also so that finished (but not yet quilted) quilt tops can stop haunting me in my sleep.  We won't even go into how much I need my beauty sleep. lol

Some MQ progress

#2 in the 9-patch series was chosen as my guinea pig. I decided to do some partial machine quilting and then leave some areas to come back and hand quilt later. I think I first learned about this approach from Little Island Quilting, but wherever it was--it's a great idea.  It could be just the sneaky way I need to eeease myself into the world of machine quilting.

A few too many of these....

I am facing some obstacles of course. Rome wasn't built in a day. In the span of about three hours yesterday I learned three extremely important things:

1. I need to drop the feed dogs just a smidge.  Not a LOT, thank you very much.
2. I don't pin nearly close enough or even stretch my quilt tops taut enough? Ahem. Perhaps I have gotten, shall we say 'lazy', with that part of the process...
3. Slowing down is very, very good. The machine doesn't have to race across the top of the quilt at 80 mph. Woosah.....

9-Patch Series #4 Now a Completed Quilt Top!

Ahhh....  It feels good to have another completed quilt top!  This one has been in the works for quite awhile now.  You can read more about this series here if you like.

9-patch Series #4

This quilt top measures 100" x 97"--the first quilt top I've ever sewn together that is actually wider than it is long!  Very odd measurements, I agree.  I wanted to add applique borders onto three sides, but not the top. It didn't seem to need anything more, plus it's already a HUGE quilt.  Works for me!

The black background makes for a very bold, striking quilt and I love how the penny rug type border makes the black bleed into the border just a bit as well.  So very glad I dreamed up this border as the main part of this quilt is a copy (same blocks, different colors) of a sampler quilt I found in 'Great Sets' by Sharyn Craig.  I wish I could get a better picture of this quilt, but my house is not well suited to display quilts of this size and I remain a very camera challenged quilter.

The thought of hand quilting this particular quilt makes me feel quite terrified because of all the 'empty' spaces to fill, but for now it's going into a drawer.  There are many quilts in line before I get to this one, so I'll have lots of time to contemplate what needs to be done with it.  Somehow I always come to terms with the vast gulf between what I think should happen with a quilt and where my experience and skills lie.*wink

Lots of Little Steps

Getting a finished quilt together is often a series of many, many little steps for me.  If I'm restless and afflicted with the can't-stick-with-any-one-thing syndrome, I'll jump from project to project like a grasshopper trying to find the perfect leaf to munch on.  As you can see below, for once I actually remembered to take care of the excess fabric behind the applique!  With hand quilting, this can be a frustrating detail to overlook.

Cutting the excess out from behind the applique....

I am not good at sewing on curved pieces.  Have I mentioned that once or twice before?  Slowly, patiently and with much resoluteness, the background pieces are being added onto the Big Star blocks.  It's a big project for me--one that needs not be rushed through.

Sewing on the background fabric to some of the Big Stars.

And then there is the eye candy.  The potential.  The endless possibility of something wonderful and unique. Playing with fabric is (by and large) what it's all about with quilting, right?

One stack reminds me of the brilliant fall colors.  The other one
has some funky green fabrics that are really stretching my imagination....

I love to stack fabrics together and play with them off and on for a few months, adding and subtracting as the whims determine.  Since I don't have a lot of money, I can't just go out and buy everything I want necessary for the next new project. Besides, it can be unexpectedly charming to mix in old impulse buys with a fresh new fat quarter or two!

And another fabric stack with less coral and more pink,
less gold and more subtle yellows....

Fabrics absolutely need to marinate and simmer for awhile before I dare cut into them.  It helps to be very sure of the fabric/pattern combination I've dreamed up too. This stack of browns, creamy whites, tans, blues and reds below has been very interesting. Honestly, I've totally given up on this particular mixture of fabrics once before and then later had to go digging them out of the totes again! Something tells me this combination could be quite the satisfying quilt for me.*sigh  I said for me.  Probably not for you though. lol

And yet another.....

Hmmm...  Could it be my next forever project?  It's so fun to have these stacks sitting around my quilting room teasing me while I'm working on the tedious details of a UFQ.  The theory is, if it's right out in the open, eventually my mind will hit on what the missing element seems to be.  Oh well.  It seems we all have a method to our madness!

More Progress on the Big Stars

I've been plugging along the last couple of days.  Three more stars are sewn together.  These turned out a little bit better than the previous three.  Probably because I checked out a couple tutorials here and there!  Sewing curves is not something I'm very good at, but I am determined to learn.

A few more big stars.

Two of my panels for the 9-patch series #4 are finished up too.  They have been super easy to take with me and work on in the car etc. while I wait on my husband or whatever else is going on.  At first I worried that I had used too many medium and similar tones, but now I'm liking the bright, zingy vibe going on.  Hopefully they will do what I want them to for the quilt in question.  Fingers crossed!

9-patch series #4 panels

As I look forward to the holidays I'm wondering what I'll be doing for hand work during the times it's inconvenient to hand quilt on a large quilt.  I really need to get my next forever project figured out!  The thing is, I want it to be fascinating enough to hold my attention for years if that is what it takes.  Hmmm...  What to do, what to do...

Today is another half day of school for my kids and for some reason I can smell something burning.  It may be time to re-teach the kidlings how to properly cook mac and cheese again.  Always something going on around here to distract me from my quilting!

A Very 'No-Pressure' Quilt in the Works

It was a great feeling to get another quilt top finished up the other day!  But then I had to confront THE LIST.  You know the one.  It practically yells 'Don't you dare start another quilt before you focus right here missy'.  So I dutifully got the rest of the prep work done for the borders on my 9-patch series #4 quilt.  Yep.  It's ready for stitching any 'ol time I get the notion (which is obviously not right now). lol

Prep work for 9-patch series #4

Next?  Oh yes.  The Happy Geese quilt which is supposed to be full of attitude.  Hmmm.... Well, forget about that.  I'm thinking this quilt should be thrilled to pieces to still even be in the running.  It started out being rescued from certain doom and has kind of morphed into the quilt where all good rejects discards go to live.

A little 'make-it-up-as-you-go-along' applique

The geese are rescue (pieces of) blocks, the cream background fabric was a throw-away from one of my friends, the brown birds were rejected reluctantly abandoned from a long-time-ago project of mine and the hundreds of yards of bias vine were sewn for a project when I (oops!) discovered it was not nearly wide enough.  Does that ever happen to anyone but me?

The bright border

Moving along.  After I finished up on the applique bits and pieces, I decided to add on a quick border.  This loud, sparky, plaid fabric--yet another throw away fabric--seems to give this quilt a bit of life and helps dispel the sickly sweetness that comes from using way too much pink.

Trying to use up some more hst's

I only added the plaid border to three sides because I really, really don't like all of my quilts to be square.  Still not sure what I'm doing or where I'm going at this point, but hey, lets try to use up some more of those discarded hst's!  The new tan fabric is yet another rejected unwanted piece of fabric being salvaged by this quilty adopter.  Chop, chop when I get to the ends--easy peasy on the measuring.  You know I've been reading up on those funky Gwen Marston techniques.*wink

Adding on a spiky border

Now for the big dilemma: adding more length than width to the quilt without having the entire quilt radiate incompetence.  I decided to cut and sew a quick spiky border with directions from 'Collaborative Quilting' by Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston.  Yay!  Things are taking shape and this whole process has been a tremendous amount of fun!  No pressures or worrying about ruining anything.  Very little measuring and/or pinning.  Just free-wheeling through the stages and feeling good about using up the misfits of quilting.  Kinda fun really......