Trudging Along

 This is not a beautiful post, just a little update on progress for the past week or so. The pear blocks are appliqued and ready for further work now. Just contemplating how I want to frame the smaller blocks so end up being the same size as the larger.

Probably going to keep this arrangement

All the blocks for 'Old Fashioned' have been trimmed and now I'm sewing the rows together. It's all tedious work when the blocks don't have a lot of variation. Love these two color quilts when they are totally finished up and quilted, but it's a real effort putting them together. Soooooo boring sometimes! 

Starting to come together

All the blocks were laid out and the rows numbered before I remembered that the plan was for pieced blocks to be chopped in half at the top and bottom. Uggh... I almost backed out of the idea completely, but then reconsidered. The quilt will look ever so much more interesting to me if I stick to the original idea! Had to take five blocks, mark the centers, sew a seam on either side of the mark and then cut through the middle. That should hold the cut piecing stable at the edges of the quilt.

Always best to stabilize the outside edges of a cut block

Doesn't look like much, but I also managed to figure out the colors for the sashing on the Primrose Path quilt. Got all the pieces cut out and ready for a big sewing session. Should have cut long strips to sew together and then cut into pieced rows, but the math failed me. It's so much harder to determine when you're dealing with bits and pieces of cut fat quarters instead of larger yardage! I just threw up my hands and resigned myself to lots more sewing time.

Prep work

Yesterday was the day that I set aside for sandwiching and pinning the next quilts in the hoop. Not done with the current one yet, but it's getting closer and I know it's much, much easier to jump right into the next quilt if it's all ready to go once the hoop is empty. Apparently my mind is on the fritz lately as both of the backings were the size of the quilt tops. Uh huh. Didn't add any of the extra needed at all. And of course I didn't find out till the backings were already taped to the floor. It was terribly annoying. Thankfully my daughter offered to help pin the quilts later in the day so at least that part went really fast!

Next quilts up

While I've been hand quilting most evenings of the week, I haven't been putting in oodles of time with it. So many things taking our time and attention lately, I'm really starting to crave some down time.

Working on the outside of the quilt now

Won't be happening any time soon though as were already gearing up to head out on our annual camping trip with our church friends. I'm trying not to feel grouchy about it, but it's hard. Prices of fuel and groceries are gonna make it an expensive little vacay and me? I'd almost rather head to the ocean. It's always fun once we get there though and at least I'll get to see my grandkids there. That pretty much makes it all worthwhile.

Trying to Move a Couple Quilt Tops Forward

Vintage Red is finally getting its turn in the quilting queue. I found time last Saturday to have my guys get the dining room table moved out of the way and then was able to get this thing sandwiched and pinned.

Vintage Red getting sandwiched and pinned

This quilt top has been waiting in the wings for about 2 years. I have wiffle waffled around about how to quilt it and now have made the decision to do both machine and hand quilting. Pinning took approximately forever, but hopefully, it will do the trick and puckering will not be a problem. And machine quilting a grid first will move the hand quilting along at a slightly faster pace as well. The newbie quilt tops ratio to finished quilts these days? Sadly slipping again.....

A full picture of the quilt top

The red fabric has been causing me a bit of anxiety as to the possibility of bleeding issues. I can't help but worry these days as I've had some bad luck. In looking back, I found the pertinent post where it shows that I had actually soaked the border fabric. What do you know? The question is, did I ever soak the red solid fabric the flowers are made out of?*sigh....  Don't think so. It was definitely washed, but soaked and tested thoroughly for bleeding issues, not likely.

Loving the vintage look of this one....

Oh well. What's done is done and for now, I'm so looking forward to adding some lovely perle cotton stitching to this. Just soaking in the sparky, fun loving vibes of my alien looking flower.

And a closer look....

I've also started playing around with the leftover cream quarter circles that I pulled out of the orphan block totes earlier this year. I adore this dotty cream and black fabric for some reason that is totally illogical. So of course I couldn't just throw these bits away after they were cut from the back of another quilt. At this point I have cut out 64- 7 1/2" mixed print background squares and sewn {by machine} all the cream quarter circles onto the tops. Just a raw edge sort of stitching as I fully intend to do some applique work to cover, similar to what you see being auditioned there in the picture. Too bad that gold and pink print is just a scrap from the overflowing corner scrap basket. It could have found a lovely home with this quilt! Right about now I'd say this is the one quilt project that is definitely making my creative juices sit up and quiver. It just feels free somehow.

Auditioning some ideas...

And back to speaking of the potential of certain fabrics to bleed, I've been soaking some darker pink/raspberry colored fabrics all day. Getting ready to cut out the binding for Quilty 365!

Getting ready for binding

That's it for now. Just plodding along as usual. It's a tough time of year to really get in a good groove with any quilting progress though I try all the time. Our church camp-out is coming up at the end of the month and of course we are nowhere near ready. In fact, our camp trailer ended up with a massive leak in the bathroom area last winter so I can't even go get it cleaned and well stocked yet. We have taken on the t-shirt/sweatshirt orders these past three years as well and it's been more paperwork this year than I expected with all the pre-orders and changes. Fun stuff. So glad I have a permanent check list {for this particular camping trip} on my computer that I print out every single year. Couldn't manage without it.

Today was an off day all the way around. Wound up locking my keys in the car when I went grocery shopping and then later, about ran into a Man when I was trying to find an empty stall in the Ladies room at Walmart. Don't bother talking to me about inclusiveness etc. etc. as I'm not really asking for a political/social opinions rant. Most women would agree that it's very unsettling when it happens unexpectedly {definitely not a normal happening around here}, and leave it at that. Also, to top off the day, my daughter discovered a pretty determined line of little sugar ants invading my kitchen. Ughh.... Seriously? And I just went to town today. Linking up with sew-stitch-snap-SHARE!

Time To Get This One in the Hoop!

There's this quilt top that has been nagging at me for months now, wanting its turn in the sun. I call it Flock of Geese or my 'bluebird' quilt. It was brought to the quilt top stage back in early fall of 2014, so you have to know its been very, very patient with me.

Flock of Geese getting sandwiched and ready for quilting!

When this one was finally all together as a quilt top, I felt a definite disconnect to it. Starting out I didn't want any brown in the quilt at all and well, you know me. Brown usually finds its way into many, many quilts around here! The fact that the wide sashing strips are practically a solid brown? Well, for one, that made me squirmy as to how it was ever supposed to be quilted, and two, tho it's a very old fashioned look {in theory}, this one didn't end up looking that way at all. Hmm...

Honestly? The entire vibe was probably more modern than I was accustomed to producing. Just a little hiccup at the corner of expectation and outcome! But this does happen occasionally as I've finally, finally started to clue in. Duh! My ideas and style seem to evolve faster than I can often mentally process. I dabble in this and that, push the boundaries of where I want my colors and/or quilt elements to play and wallah! The results can be unpredictable, and yet, oddly exhilarating too! And yes, that's undoubtedly why I predictably backtrack into the old and familiar on occasion. Like taking a long, hot soak in the tub and trying to completely unwind.  

Flock of Geese

Fast forward to today and I'm totally scratching my head as to why this would ever have made me uncomfortable in any way, shape or form? It's such a me quilt! lol  It is also interesting to note that the fabric for the birds in this quilt is the same exact fabric I used in a border for Scrappy Tulips, the quilt I just finished stitching prior to Cherries & Improv. pictured below. Totally different usage of the fabric and yet, it was a great sparky element in both quilts! Have I mentioned before that I love, love, love stitching on old quilt tops at the same time as working on the new? And stitching back to back older quilt tops with completely different moods? Such an interesting perspective all the way around....

Binding strips for Cherries & Improv.

Gotta a busy week ahead so am trying to get some hand work ready to go. Once this binding is sewn together and then stitched onto the quilt, I can have myself a binding marathon squeezed in between all the crazy bits of our life. Onward ho!

AHIQ Start and 17 in 2017 Progress!

It never seems like there's proper time to get a post written these days. Guess I'm spending too much time playing 'Words With Friends' with the family, catching up on my reading, or getting pulled away from what I'm doing by my husbands requests to accompany him here and there. Well, that and we just bombed through February already. Does that mean winter is mostly over?

Mock up of potential sashing units

Crossing my fingers fiercely on that one. Ughh. Am I ever tired of the snow and ice! However, there is still a bit of quilting going on behind the scenes, no matter how sporadic the approach these days. I dithered around, played with a quilting project idea, slept on it, then slept on it some more, tweaked my color choices and then finally, finally started the AHIQ-Chinese Coins challenge. These colors ended up being the pick of the day as they will probably end up being 'background' in the quilt and not a focal point.

At the moment there are only four sheets of strings sewn together. After getting through the initial work and checking to see that 'Yes, these can be cut to the appropriate strip widths and lengths', then I went ahead and free cut the approximate amount of strings needed for the entire quilt. Part of my initial reluctance to dive into this project was the feeling that Chinese Coins usually present in a formal 'evenly measured' manner. Then Kaja put into words some of my feelings about what was really stopping me from starting this project! We're all sort of inspiring each other I guess, because she referred to Sue {I personally was thinking about Ann's lovely string/coin work} and around and around we go. Mine will eventually be cut into 2 1/2" x 8" strips to be joined together in 6" sashing sets. And I want the imperfection of mismatched seam alignment although I did make an effort to not have extremes in width of fabrics cut. We'll see how it turns out, but whatever. I'm actually glad to have some mindless sewing in the works again!

Strips ready to be sewn into sets

So then, there's the 17ufosin2017 linkup. I thought there was very minor progress made during the minuscule month of February {hardly worth talking about}, but as it turns out, more was accomplished than I realized. Yay! My Peachy Cameo Medallion quilt gained another border. Hardly inspiring as it is identical to the previous one, but well... it just works. The quilt could almost be done right there, I'm so happy with the look, but it's gonna have to have that applique border I've been envisioning since the birth of the project. Yep. I can't help myself--always adding a bajillion more hours to my quilt tops, thinking applique will make it extra special wonderful....

A repeat border for Peachy Cameo Medallion quilt

Improv. Woven Basket also gained a border {very simple one} and then I've spent time drawing out and prepping for the next border. That always takes so much more time than we want to admit to doesn't it? And yes, the plan is for it to be an appliqued border as well. The picture below is what I have ready for the base of a simple flower design, mostly leaves with a very small little flower detail,that part to be determined after the bulk of this stitching is done. The flower stems were mostly gleaned from my orphaned applique bits and pieces totes which makes me smile and ensures a bit of unpredictability in stem width and color. Love that!

Prep work for border on Improv. Woven Basket quilt

Next up for gaining ground with a ufo is another border for Folksy Flower. This time I made sure to add triangular shapes to the end of my border lengths so as to address a little of the bias stretch that I will be dealing with. The math has been particularly tricky for me and so honestly I've just been avoiding it altogether. The border pieces are terribly wrinkled because I crammed them in my hand stitching bag for our recent long weekend to Oregon. Not much stitching happened tho as I found myself driving a lot instead of being passenger!

Another border for Folksy Flower quilt

While I completely finished up Geese Tracks and Black Shadow Applique {happy dance for a lovely, lovely finish!}, it doesn't feel like quite enough. If I'm going to be churning out quilt tops like a busy little beaver, then more domestic machine quilting is in order. Not just the feel good hand quilting stuff which is easy, fun and very low pressure. Ugghh. It never feels good enough, this machine quilting, but at least I'm starting to feel 'unashamed' of my unpolished efforts. Okay. That definitely feels like progress in and of itself!

St. Paul quilt sandwiched and ready to quilt

And my lovely husband tracked down some better tape for sandwiching my quilts. All of his own initiative too which makes it even more sweet. {Tired of hearing me grumble I'm sure!} I have had a terrible time with getting painters tape to stay attached to either the fabric or the floor and duck tape has been forbidden for use with my worn out, old wooden floors. This green tape is an auto body quality tape which so far is working wonderfully with everything but one fabric I tried it with. For some reason it didn't want to adhere to that particular fabric, but with everything else, I can actually pick the tape up and re-attach it!! Will wonders never cease. Now maybe I can get my quilt sandwiches to be taut and wrinkle free, something that machine quilting distinctly requires....

Always a 'Next Up' In the Hoop

It's time. These hand pieced bow-tie's are saying they want to be quilted. So what's a girl to do?

Hand Pieced Bow-Ties

These are the only hand pieced blocks that I have made an entire quilt out of so far. I mostly hand piece when {and where} the block seems to be better off for the effort. Like these bow-ties. I just really, really had to have a bow-tie quilt with the original, square looking center. Looking at my work as I pinned the quilt made me realize how desperately lacking my piecing skills are though. Galloping horses, people. Just pretend you're on a galloping horse while you're viewing my quilt!

Looking a little closer

And then because I have gotten into the habit of pinning two quilts in one session, here is String Play, a mostly out of the scrap bin effort. I am aiming to machine quilt this big monster of a quilt and ooooh, I am nervous about that.

String Play

I totally forgot to take a picture of the quilt top before the pins were added, so you can see where I intend to stitch long vertical lines. The goal is to completely stitch the top with organically {ha, ha, all my lines are organic} straight lines. Not sure how closely I'll end up stitching the rows, but these will be my first 'reference' lines.

Almost ready to get started!

Hope my machine is up for this like the repairman said it would be! Crossing my fingers on that. I'm determined to get in the mode of at least trying to machine quilt the occasional quilt top instead of sitting on my chicken-hearted fears and letting the quilt room practically explode with unfinished quilt tops. If you only knew how long I sat and stared at this quilt top imagining how wonderful it would look with hand quilting....

Linking up with Nicky and Leanne for Scraptastic Tuesday! I haven't been sewing anything from the scrap bin lately {except my circles}, but this quilt was an 'all-in' effort from the scrap bin back when I made it. Definitely makes me think it's time and past to dig in and try another. There's nothing quite like seeing an entire quilt top made from scraps! Everything inside me just sort of melts and I'm like a proud momma. See here? Look! This is good stuff!*wink

Making Time For Hand Work

Sometimes I feel like nothing is ever really getting done around here. All I do is piddle. First on one project and then, on another. Mostly that feeling persists because my life gets very chaotic, but really, trying to keep up with all the demands on my time {by husband, kids, other assorted family members and yes, tending to the maintenance of life} tends to kill my superwoman efficiency powers.

Big Stars

There was a window of opportunity to sandwich and pin a couple quilts the other day. {I'm doing it in pairs these days.} Of course I had to rush to piece together the backs because I don't plan ahead for these things. By the time the quilt backing was taped to the floor, I was a hot, sweaty mess and it was dark outside. Lovely lighting don't you think? It really doesn't do justice to these quilts that were lucky enough to make it to the top of the queue.

Muddy Creek

This Big Stars quilt has been nagging at me for a very long time. I have definitely shied away from this one. So proud of it when I finished, but now a little less than thrilled with the quilt top. Sometimes I experience a great deal of trepidation in my own ability to stitch something that could make a quilt shine--bring it to it's fullest potential. That can make me like my quilt top a little less than it probably deserves. Such defeating thoughts and I actually allow them to cause a bit of paralysis. Grrr....  I'm not making heirloom quilts, nor do I feel that we have to. Quilting is whatever we choose to make it and serves a very individual purpose in all our lives.

So in the hoop it goes so I can start stitching what makes sense to me. I don't need complicated. Right now I don't even have the brain power to worry about the 'best' stitching pattern. Mostly I just need something in the hoop to quiet my mind and relax my body. The end.

In the hoop

In the little bits and pieces of time I gather throughout the day, there is also applique. It never feels very important as I'm doing the actual stitching, but it definitely adds up to something huge to me. Having applique in my quilts gives a little more to love about what I make. Because I connect with it. It feels right and true for me. But if I stop and really think about it, there is never time in my life for that. Never. And that can be overwhelming. So I just get everything prepped and then I fit it into my life however and where-ever I can.

Completed Vintage Red blocks

Like with these latest projects. I have slowly, steadily, persistently, tenaciously stitched until I have all of the Vintage Red blocks completed and now all my basket handles are done too. This is the only way to ever move forward with these sorts of projects because when you're stitching a bit here and stitching a bit there, the time never 'counts'. In fact it feels rather pitiful if you look at it that way and your progress always seems quite pathetic. It's best to change our thinking. Think of this kind of stitching as filling lost time or even taking advantage of little moments.

All the Summers End basket handles are done!

Stitch when there is opportunity and then put it away when someone or something pulls you away once again. Be willing to stop mid-block. No resentment, no irritation at being pulled away because we're not counting the time. We're making use of opportunity until the day comes when 'ta da!' our blocks {or pieces} are ready for the next phase. And it always comes, no matter how difficult the project or how tedious the process. No matter how simple, repetitive and/or silly it seems. And who cares if it takes an entire week to finish one block? Every stitch counts, not the time because that kind of time can't be recovered anyway.*wink

Just Dabbling

I'm a dabbler lately. Dibble, dabble and jumping around from project to project, idea to idea. I started work on my twirly balls. The first one. I think I'm committed now for real but it may still take me a couple months to sew these twelve blocks up. They take. A. Lot. Of. Time.

This might just be possible if I take it very slow....

Sorry for the lousy color in the pic below. It was taken late in the evening and then my camera died. It's an older quilt top. I sewed some blocks together a hundred years ago, tore them all apart {a couple years ago}, then got {re}inspired and ended up with this--somehow. I'm going to do a lot of basic machine quilting on it and just a little dibble dabble of hand quilting. Things need to get moving out of my quilt top drawers. Because {ahem!} I need more room.

Starting to pin another quilt.....

 Obviously. Wouldn't this be sweet new project?

Another new quilt?

I really, really wanna cut into these fabrics. And wouldn't you? I rescued the large yellow fabric from the clearance bin a quite awhile back. The plan was to use it for a quilt backing, which is no doubt why I found it buried in with the quilt tops. What was I thinking? Was I thinking? I know what I'm thinking now....*wink

A Fresh Perspective

Even though it feels that all I do lately is fret, I am closing in on a finish with my current hand quilting project. Time to pin another quilt top. I do like to stay one step ahead and quilting/color/fabric feels good. It's not like I have the brain power to concentrate on design decisions and such right now anyway. The fire is probably not any closer, but ash is falling everywhere, smoke is choking us and our view is obscured. Fires are {or have been} burning on practically every side of us. I can't even think straight.

Getting ready to pin my Scrap Basket/Rolling Stones quilt

My daughter helped me to move the dining room table out of the way and then because I was already in the mode, it was easy to pin two quilt tops. Might as well. The Scrap Basket/Rolling Stones quilt top is one of my absolute favorites because of the different fabrics and colors involved--that red number fabric for the basket background and mixed light green sashing especially.

Every now and then I make a quilt top that just seems to stand out to me as special in several ways. I'm also extremely fond of the large basket that was pieced {on a whim} with a quickly drawn template, then sewn from little bits in the scrap bin. It was actually the impetuous behind the entire quilt and I cannot believe how 'me' this quilt turned out to be. It's been needing to get in the hoop for a good long while now because it just makes me happy.

A closer look...

The quilt top below is one that I intend to do some machine quilting on--stitch in the ditch etc. After I get all that out of the way, then I will come back and hand quilt some spirals in the pinwheel blocks? I'm still contemplating ideas, but that is my tentative plan.

Mom's Color Challenge Quilt

This quilt is a Kathy Doughty pattern from the Material Obsession 2 book, but our late quilting group made it as a mystery quilt. According to the guidelines set up for us, we gathered or bought our fabric according to warms and cool, then subgroups of types of prints. I can't remember exactly now, but it seems that we had print groups of dots, plaids & stripes, geometrics, medallions, paisleys and also florals. We were supposed to pay attention to print size and try to gather a mixed selection of small, medium and large prints. It was a very interesting approach and we spent quite a lot of time playing with our fabric groupings before committing to the start of the quilt. I didn't mind selecting fabrics according to print type before knowing the specific pattern, but others found it an extremely difficult process.

A closer look...

What I balked at was using a solid white background and then trying to gather engaging {to me} fabrics to go along with it. True white feels so stark and foreign to me that I can't seem to bond properly with it. I could have used solid black {the only other option available to us} but for some reason I went ahead and decided to stretch myself a bit with the white. Good call as it's easy to get complacent within our own comfort zone and start to get stagnant. Using the white made me question some of the fabrics I was instinctively drawn to--made me wonder if they would be a bold enough choice if placed next to a solid. I've always tried to have a well balanced mix of prints in each of the quilts that I make, but making a quilt in this specific manner really helped bring attention to individual choices made color by color. It definitely solidified how truly important the details can be, reinforcing a thoughtful but hopefully, instinctive process. Hindsight makes it very clear that this quilt top has been key in how I got to where I am now in terms of choosing fabric prints for all my quilt projects.

Having said that, this quilt is not something I'm very excited about. As a whole, it doesn't feel completely like a 'me' quilt. It doesn't dazzle me, melt my heart or make me feel especially happy. Not that I'm embarrassed or ashamed of it! It just is. So.... coming back now and looking at it with fresh eyes allows me the perspective of seeing the little, tiny bit of myself that I managed to instill into the quilt--regardless of how limiting I felt the perimeters to be. That's kind of interesting because I really couldn't see it before. And it's in the finish-it-up queue now because I fully intend to be giving it away soon. Don't you think it needs to go live with someone who will more fully appreciate it? Ha  Lets see if it survives round two of August fire season first....

Always Another Quilt To Get Ready For the Hoop

I finished up the hand quilting on 'Imagine A Quilt' and figured out an acceptable binding. It's a whimsical quilt, not very formal at all, so it seemed perfectly suitable to go digging in the leftover binding tote for a starting place. I gathered up five pieces of binding ends and then went digging for mixed blue fabrics for the rest. 

Imagine A Quilt

Hand sewing it to the back will come when all the stars align I guess. I had hoped to get it done in time to link up to Julie's Binding Blitz, but I don't know if that's possible. My week is already running out of days and I so hate to be a slave to deadlines!

My husband was home sick this week and so I took the opportunity to have him help me move the dining room table. It has to be moved every single time I want to sandwich and baste a new quilt. So annoying, but with a little preplanning I can usually get help when needed. {The table has carpet underneath which means I can't just shove it out of the way. I learned that the um... hard way once. Broken table legs? Yeah. It was ugly.}

Knowing the hand quilting on 'Imagine A Quilt' was nearing a finish, I had decided that 'Vertical Baskets' would be next up in the hoop. It's been in the queue for a very long time!

Vertical Baskets

I never finish quilts in the exact same order they get to the quilt top stage, but I do try to get them quilted before they are so outdated that dislike or disdain starts to set in.*wink

Loving these baskets....

The quilting design is still very much up in the air for this quilt, but I am sure something will come to me when I actually have it in the hoop. On the last quilt, I ripped out a whole hoops worth of quilting before finally settling on how to venture forward! Whatever it takes, but I never do anything super complicated. Or intricate. Laziness Simplicity is my byword when it comes to hand quilting.

And a closer look....

And I do know that keeping it in the drawers accomplishes nothing in getting it to a absolute finish. Oh my, how very, very many quilt tops I have now.... And you know me, already trying to figure out another quilt project to get started on!

Note to Self: It's Easier to Pin Quilts When the Children Aren't Home

Yesterday was the day I decided to sandwich and pin my Broken Dishes Part Deux quilt. It's a very lovely, darkish but still quite vibrant quilt. I intend to machine quilt through the sashing and then hand quilt each block, which totally distracted me from my normal routine of taking a picture of the quilt before any pins are added.

Broken Dishes Part Deux

I rarely machine quilt so it takes me awhile to determine the most efficient pinning for that particular application. Apparently I'm supposed to use a bazillion pins, which always seems incredibly unnecessary until I'm right in the middle of machine quilting the quilt. Then I tend to have tons of remorse and an overwhelming urge to bang my head against the wall. Because I NEVER learn. It's a vicious cycle. Probably why I love my hand quilting hoop to pieces. We completely understand each other and never have relationship issues.

It also didn't help that yesterday was a half day and my children were wandering back and forth through the living room. As you can see from the tennis racket inserted into the picture below, they were NOT helping me out at all. I usually take tons of pictures from a couple different angles which ensures that I'll get at least one or two decent pictures to post. Yesterday I gave up at five pictures. Yep, and there isn't a single picture where my quilt isn't washed out from the light shining in through the front door....

Broken Dishes Part Deux with the help
of my sons tennis racket....

Once I find a fabric that I like, then the binding can be put on my Spring Forward quilt and it will be finished. Oh I just love that word! And I know it's a quick change-up, one quilt out of the hoop and another one ready to put in (almost), but that's how I roll.

Spring Forward waiting for binding

These crazy spring day-- coming up on the end of the school year? I need my time with the hoop. Our schedule couldn't possibly get more hectic than it is right now and although I know it's just the normal having-a-houseful-of-teenagers routine, it leaves me a little bit breathless at times. Whew! These 'almost' adults are a lot of work!

Scrap Attack #1--Log Cabin Ready to Be Quilted

My Giveaway is still open until the end of the week! There is a Kathy and a Susan from Troutdale that are no-reply commentors making it impossible for me to contact them should they win! Fall has definitely arrived around here. My oldest son has been sleeping outside in our camp trailer and it's starting to get cold enough that he's decided to move back inside until he leaves again (3 weeks!). I finally pulled out the log cabin quilt I want to get finished up for him to take back to college.

Scrap Attack #1--Log Cabin

When I mentioned that I had it pinned and ready to machine quilt I couldn't believe how excited he was. 'You never told me!' he says. Men. We had this conversation at least 2 months ago.

Love all the different fabrics used throughout.

So now I'm committed, which is fine. I intend to do very basic straight line quilting anyway, nothing fancy. I'm sure it will get very well used making hand quilting an unnecessary evil. lol  The quilt is 70" x 84" so I'm hoping it will work well on his twin bed and still be wide enough to wrap up in. Quilts that are too narrow and scrawny never seem to get used, do they?

Probably not pinned close enough.....

For anyone that is interested, I get my rolls of batting from Heartbeat Quilting in Spokane, Washington. I order on the net and get my batting shipped through the post office. They have quick, wonderful service and no I don't have any affiliation with them whatsoever!