Tonight I sewed on the final curved borders on my quilt top.

I'm hoping tomorrow to start piecing the backing from all the leftover chunks of fabric I have and a couple blocks that didn't make it into the front.

After taking this down, I started organizing all the fabrics I got on the Shop Hop last week.  There was stuff piled everywhere. Once I got things under control, I pulled out my Christmas BOM blocks from the guild.  Our show is the end of Oct. and the ladies who organized the BOM are hoping we get our tops done and entered in the show as a separate display.  I sorta got tired of working on them so this is all I have.

first layout

second layout

3rd

I had to dig through my scraps and found a couple 3.5 inch strips that I pieced to get the last  few plain blocks with the background! whew.

This is going to sit for a day or two.

One of the patterns I bought on Shop Hop was Happy Jack.

I started cutting out 3.5 inch squares for it.

too cute.

  

Saturday sewing

After Shop Hopping all day Wednesday, working Thursday and finishing the Shop Hop on Friday, I was ready for some serious sewing time.

First thing was to finish the binding (by hand) on my Opal Pillow. I sat on the deck  while stitching.

 Next, I sewed the last signature block together, which meant I could sew the final row together and add it to the rest of the top!  

(54 x 64)

 I sewed a border around the Metro Rings block to get it up to size for a 20 inch pillow  and then cut the leftover batting and muslin for it and the two Dresden blocks, also destined to be pillows.  Now just need to finish a quilt that's waiting on HQ to be able to quilt these up.

And finally it was on to Curve it Up Sampler. 

I sewed the first row together and then decided I wanted to add a narrow strip between the blocks.  I measured the small piece of grey fabric I had left and figured that if I didn't make a single cutting error I would just have enough for

1 1/4 inch strips.  I would have preferred 1 1/2.

So after un-sewing the first row I got busy and have the top together now and one row of the outer sashing on...I see a flimsy in the near future.

You may remember that I LOL when Jenny & her sister challenged us to get the top done by July 1. 

But then they added that those who did would be entered to win 3 of her patterns....that stopped the lol-ing. :)

A New QAL

On July 1 the Medallion QAL starts. I will be using my FQ bundle of Comma by Zen Chic. The chartreuse is for the curves and the background is a Kona but I forget the color.

Is there a method to this madness?

After running around this morning trying to get an organized list for

 Shop Hop, I thought perhaps I'd sit down and sew a small border around the MetroRings block I made yesterday and have it ready to quilt.  

But I didn't do that.

and get these 2 ready for quilting too. I didn't do that either.

 I took down the signature quilt rows---it's as together as I can get it until I have the last 2 signed blocks.

I was going to put up the Curve it up blocks and figure out the fabrics for the final outside border (keep it the same grey/white or instead of the grey use one of the yellow prints I bought but hardly used for it oh and make sure I have enough)

um, I didn't do that.

I was sick of looking at the Bl-a-days in rows  on the other side of the design wall so I started sewing them together and after a few hours;

a new flimsy.

(61 x 77)

Oh and after looking at the picture of the curve it up blocks while I'm writing this post, I think I will be using the grey/white to finish the top.

Design Wall Monday

This is a sample block of MetroRings 

I purchased the pattern and one for Metro Hoops so I could take the patterns with me on Shop Hop this week and get the fabrics for it.

This is Jenny's curved interpretation of the classic Double Wedding ring block.  I've never been a big fan of DWR probably because most that I've seen are done in 30's feed sack colors, which I am not fond of, and also those pieced arcs--yikes!

After downloading the pattern and reading it over, I thought perhaps I better sew a sample before spending a lot of $.  

~~wisdom comes with age~~

The  pieced arcs are sewn first using 2.5 inch strips-I used a partial jelly roll I had.

Of course I don't have enough of the jelly roll left to make the entire quilt.

But that's OK. This block is going to be a pillow gift.  Pillows are happening a lot here lately!

I did have enough of the jelly roll and some random 2.5 inch strips in the bin for the Metro Rings quilt.  woo-hoo 

*****

Today I am going to try to get the signature quilt as together as I can.

I still need two signature blocks returned to me but I can get most of it together.

almost a ta-da.

I have the blocks all sashed but need to made 28 more units to go round the outside to frame it nicely.

The challenge was thrown down to have the quilt together by July 1.

I laughed....out loud.

One of my coworkers had a stroke.  She's doing well but it will be a long recovery.

This is the signature quilt I'm making for her.  I have all the blocks ready now, just need all the ladies I work with to get the signed pieces back to me...

The colors are a bit off, it's very soft, feminine and has a peaceful feel. I think it fits the bill. It's all from stash and most of it is actually charm packs,  French General some light CW...forget the designer

I finally finished quilting a H.U.G.E. customer quilt 102" x 121"

all over feathers, I never thought it would end.  I timed myself and it took me an hour and 15 minutes for one pass...yikes!

 Jenny  is having a new QAL-perfect timing as our local Shop Hop is next week and now I have something to actually shop for.

I quilted up this pillow yesterday morning, forgot to take a picture. I'm going to make binding for it now and then I'll show it all finished.  

my design wall

I'm making slow progress on both quilts.  

I've cut this stripe for sashing between the rows of CW blocks

now I think I want to put the blue 1.5 inch sashing all the way around and w/cornerstones too.  (always like to use them as they make the matching up easier, in mho.)

I get super excited every time I add a block to this bunch.  I have the rest of the grey curves sewn together and just need oh, 45 minutes probably to sew them on.

Maybe today is the day.

a few days ago, just for the heck of it I sewed together the original blades I had cut for my dresden; cut before I sewed a sample block and decided I wanted mine to be bigger.  

I think these shall become smaller pillows. The top one I'm calling my 'low volume' one I love it.  The blue one I love simply because it's blue. 

I look at them here and on my design wall and think 'oh wouldn't that be a nice quilt...either all blue and beige dresdens' (Diane you do want to make a blue and white quilt one day....) or 'oh wouldn't that be cool to make one in each color-controlled scrappy'.   

And then I smack myself and come back to reality and say 'yes 2 finished pillows is the way to go.'  

heh-heh.