Before.....

 

 

 

After.....

 

 

 

 

Here's the second block in the Fat Quarter Shop Designer Mystery BOM.  Since this is also the second basket block, two for two, I'm seeing a potential pattern.  It might be too soon to call, but I'd be really happy with a basket quilt made out of these great fabrics.  We'll see what next month brings!

I finished this month's Sew Lux BOM.  (Yeah... I'm on schedule....two months in a row!)  Again, I'm doing this BOM series with two fabric lines.... same pattern..... different fabrics. 

 

The first block is done with the original fabrics, the fabrics that are shown in the directions.  It came out pretty well without too much trouble.  I like the way the directional middle fabric gives kind of a spinning effect. 

 

 

 

The second block didn't go as smoothly.  I'm not even sure if I have the fabrics in the right places even though they tell you which fabrics are A, B, and C.  I do wish they would enclose a photo of the finished block using the alternate fabrics.  I'm a visual kind of person and I'm not sure if I've put this together correctly or not.  It really doesn't matter, but I do think I'd like the navy on the outside, similar to the first block. 
 

 

I will probably get my Fat Quarter Shop BOM in the mail tomorrow or the next day and I'm actually ready to work on it.  Bring it on!

 

I went ahead and put the borders on last night, going with a 3" border.  I can always make it narrower.  It's now 16" square. I'm going to bind it with the turquoise fabric if I have enough left over.  I may even pipe the edge instead of regular binding.  I had planned on adding a tatted trim around the blocks, but when I laid it on top of the blocks, it just took your eye away from the quilt and made it too complicated..... didn't add anything to it. 

 

 

Now I have to hand quilt it.  Yuck...... I don't enjoy hand quilting at all anymore.  Too painful for my hands.  This auction will only allow hand quilted quilts.  You can machine piece...thankfully.... but cannot machine quilt your donation.  This little quilt is just screaming for precision, machine quilting in some sort of straight line or geometric pattern.  My hand quilting will not do this justice and will actually make it less appealing.  When you are auctioning off quilts for hunger relief, you would think they would allow machine quilting which would probably double their quilt donations and thus make tons more money.  But, alas, rules are rules ..... traditions must stand .... and hand quilt, I must.

Auction Quilt

 

I had a chance to continue with my auction quilt this week end and have finished the tedious blocks.  This LITTLE quilt is only 10" square finished and has 200 pieces in it!  I'm pleased with my design and the overall look and I'm now ready to add borders, which I think will be 2" or 3".

 

 

 

 

Here's the backside where you can see all of the pieces.  I used a soluble foundation paper, so I'll be able to soak the papers off and iron it dry, trying to keep things from distorting.  I'll add the borders before I remove the papers, which will also help it to keep a nice square shape.

 

 

 

 

The problem with this being so small (I'm thinking it will be only 14" to 16" square with its' borders added) is that it won't be very visible when it's actually on the auction block.  If I get it to the organizers in a timely fashion, it will be listed in the auction book, where I'll be able to add a little description about it.  I'll be sure that I make that happen so that it doesn't get overlooked with all of the big boy quilts.  :)

4th of July

Happy 4th of July!

 

I'm very grateful to live in the United States where I'm blessed with many freedoms and privileges.  Many thanks to all who have made this possible.  God Bless the USA!