Sewing Room Catch Up

 Another UFO will soon be checked off!  This is Triple Treat, Bonnie Hunter's Leader/Ender project for the year.  You started with little 4 patches from light/dark 1.5" squares, and then put them together with bricks and squares from 2.5" strips.  This was a great way to use up a lot of those scraps and I really enjoyed making the blocks, but I can honestly say that this is NOT my favorite quilt.  

I laid the blocks out and then turned it over to David to arrange as he saw fit.  

He went through several options...........

And finally settled on one.  Of course, Cici and Esme did a little arranging too, so this might not actually be how it turned out.  

I quilted it in a basket weave pattern using gold thread (gold improves everything, right?) yesterday and am working on the binding made from scrap black bindings from other projects.  I think the quilting and binding improve it, but I'll let you be the judge when you see a finished quilt photo.  I also made a scrappy backing from fabrics that I didn't love.  Somehow, in all the measuring, I flipped some numbers.  I didn't discover this until I was 2/3 done with the quilting.  That's when I realized that the backing wasn't long enough.  Well, I wasn't going to take it off and add a little strip and then reload and try to line everything up again, so I just ripped off the last row and called it good.  After all, who will really know?  Just you and I know you won't tell.

Now this next one might be my favorite finish in awhile.  And it's definitely my oldest UFO.  I don't know when I started the barn block embroidery for the Appalachian Memories quilt, but I'm thinking it's been 8-9 years.  Attending that track meet in Nebraska helped finish up the last block.  When it came to setting them together, I didn't like the way the pattern looked.  I finally realized it wasn't the design of the sashing and cornerstones, but the size of them.  Theirs were 8 inches wide and really overpowered the barn blocks.  I made mine half size and think it turned out great.  I will get it quilted one of these days.  Ideas for quilting are still percolating.  I have a cream tone on tone backing for it and the binding is ready.

And Cats in Space is a flimsy as well.  This will be for Sarah for Christmas.  Shh!  She hasn't seen it, so don't tell.  Remember, she doesn't read this blog, so we're safe showing it here.  This was so fun to make.  I did have to breathe into a paper bag before taking the completed blocks and just willy nilly tilting them and slicing off corners to make them appear to be floating in space.  I have the backing and binding ready and know how I think I want to quilt it, so just need to get brave enough to do it.

Now this next one is not a UFO.  I just got the pattern recently and couldn't wait to make it.  The picture doesn't do the color justice.  It's called Love Stinks!  It was a blast to make!  I have the backing and binding ready, and pretty much know how I want to quilt it.

  

And I did a mystery for my guild..........the Christi Mystery!  The first clue was given at our February meeting, and everyone is supposed to have a completed top to show at our meeting this week.  It was pretty easy and I'm sure most had it figured out to be a log cabin by the second clue.  Everyone could choose their own fabrics.  I had a specific layout in mind for the 16 blocks, but tried out some other arrangements before sewing mine together...............

It was a difficult choice, but I went with my original plan, below.  

I had some scraps of the dark colors left, so added a skinny neutral border and then a pieced border from the dark scraps.  It's all quilted and bound, but I don't have a photo yet.  Stay tuned for that one and more from the meeting this week.

Christi