Basket Medallion Border Work and Orphan Block Fun

I have the Flower Pot basket border almost ready to sew onto the Basket Medallion quilt now.  All four border units are sewn together and just basically waiting on me to make a decision about the fabric for the coping border.  Maybe another striped fabric?  While it's true that I don't want all my quilts to start looking like identical twins, I am actually considering using the same sashing fabric I used in this quilt.

Flower Pot basket blocks ready for border

It's hard to see in the pictures, but these mixed brown fabrics are really rich and dreamy looking compared to the paler yellows used in the quilt.  I was a little worried about how some of the fabrics would look up next to the reds, but it's all behaving very well together.*whew  Kind of makes me want a Hershey bar for afternoon snack though!

All 4 borders ready to go...

Then I got a bright idea about those leftover 9-patches that kept catching the corner of my eye every time I ironed something.  Good tip for the future:  Keep orphan blocks in a clear Ziploc just out of plain sight, but where you can still see tiny little glimpses of them. Very alluring with all that potential greatness!

A slight diversion of plans

I somehow went a bit crazy and ended up with way too many of these blocks back when I was working on this Material Obsession quilt.  Me and 9-patches?  Well, I don't think we quite know when to quit.

36 scrappy blocks of goodness

They quickly sewed together into a nice little stack of goodness which had me positively rubbing my hands in glee!  Amazing how fast blocks can go together when you don't have to bother with cutting fabric.  Then I had to dig around and find a good fabric to frame the blocks and make sure they didn't all mush together.  Maybe I'm getting too reliant on sashing lately?  There was a time I refused to have any whatsoever in my quilts....

Going together very fast!

Anyway, I want to reassure you that I haven't forgotten any the projects on my LIST.  Those of you who like to practice project monogomy and get irritated by all this hop, skip, jumping around, this is just a very slight diversion.  Nothing important at all.*wink

Flower Pot Basket Progress

The Flower Pot basket blocks are slowly, but surely getting sewn together.  So many little pieces to put in the proper position!  I always chain piece where I can and that seems to make things go faster.

Chain piecing the Flower Pot blocks

I'm probably going to put these blocks on point which means I will need 28 more than what I previously had pieced together.  Of course, no decision is ever firm until I get a chance to lay things out and audition the blocks properly!  I'm also pretty sure I don't have a good fabric to use for the coping strip either, which means I will have to get very creative or make a run to the quilt store with my fingers crossed.  Our local quilt stores doesn't exactly carry a lot of this type of fabric.

Almost done!

I have had to do some end of the quarter book work in the office the last couple days and then yesterday I finally got serious and made a 'real' grocery list.  Other than picking up the essentials, I hadn't been grocery shopping for close to a month.*yikes  The grocery list itself took almost two hours to put together and then my husband and I didn't get away from the house until almost 8 pm.  Rather late to grocery shop, but we're having vehicle problems lately, the kids are extremely busy with practices/games and running every which direction and well, it just happened that way.

Takes me back to the days when my kids were very young and I actually chose to go grocery shopping late in the evenings (after the kids had gone to bed and their daddy was home to keep a watch on them)! Now days, I have to admit, I much prefer to go grocery shopping when the quilt shop is open and I can stop in for a quick look around.  Mothers do need the occasional reward for good behavior you know.*wink

Oh yes, I'm keeping the giveaway open till Thursday.  Stop by and comment for a chance to win!

Be Still My Heart!

The entire time I've been working on the Basket Medallion quilt, I've thought that one of the last rows would have to be basket blocks. Using an echo block in the border work is a very old medallion quilt trick that helps pull everything together. The Flower Pot block is very close to the block I used in the centerpiece of this project and it finishes out at a good 5".

Cutting for 5" Flower Pot blocks

Right now the Basket Medallion is at 55 1/2" square so 'nuff said about that.  I decided to cut out eight blocks to audition not only the size (proportion is always a worry) but also the fabrics I settled on.  I have struggled a bit because right from the start I kept the color range of this quilt in a very narrow window.

Tops of Flower Pot blocks sewn

The last thing I want is for my quilt to reflect back at me in a dull, uninteresting manner.  Come on!  Sparkle at me and make me look more than once! Otherwise, what's the point in continuing forward? I didn't get very far before the fabrics I chose were already working their magic on me.  There's just something about creams and tans mixed with madder reds that get to me every single time.  It's like drinking chamomile tea for other people I suppose.*wink

Flower Pot blocks in 2 pieces

Then the blocks were almost completed and I could see that regardless of what they looked like with this quilt, they were definitely keepers.  Seriously, who can resist little basket blocks?

Audition #1

I auditioned them in a straight side-by-side setting initially and wowsers!  Loving that look already!

Audition #2

Then I auditioned them in an on-point setting (which would require a narrow coping strip and more work) and stepped back.  Uh oh.  I can see I'm in real trouble now......

And around the corner....

There is no way I'm making this decision overnight!  Be still my heart!  It's just baskets. lol