Fast-Forward Once Again!

Here's the second sampler quilt top from the bin of old blocks-of-the-month; this one, also, from 2007! As explained in the previous post, I had stashed the blocks along with fabric purchased at the time for finishing; I'm SEW glad that I did that! The extra green and dark red came in handy for those cornerstones in the pieced sashing. I found this setting idea in Sharyn Craig's Setting Solutions book (one of the most often used books on the shelf), I thought it lightened up the whole piece considerably. Luckily, I bought enough of that mottled caramel color for the borders (and I have just enough for binding, too!). This top measures 60" X 75" and will be named "Autumn Stars", it's the fall cousin to "Summer Stars", below. 

The first one is quilted and off the rails, it's hard to believe that these are the exact same block patterns as the one above! 

I need to scour the stash closet for something to use for binding on this one now.

It's that time again: we've had a nap blanket "round up" for the three PreK classes that our small group supplies at a local elementary school. A full complement was delivered yesterday, in time for next week's first day! I've posted about this project many times before, this is the eleventh year that we've provided these to the school that we "adopted". Another fast-forward moment, it hardly seems possible that we've been doing these for that long! You can read more about the nap blanket project here. 

We were able to have lunch with our daughter and oldest grandson in the Capital City last week, celebrating both of their birthdays. Mason, now 13, was thrilled to see that he's ever-so-slightly taller than me now; it might be just a smidgen, but he'll claim it. This, for certain, was a fast-forward for me!

~Marbles Found~

One more flimsy out of the old blocks-of-the-month bin! This one is not nearly as "vintage"; these were assembled (and then promptly stashed) in 2015, only six years ago! This is small-ish: only 36" X 45" at this point. It was made using a line of Moda fabric called "Marbles". I may have located enough of that creamy background fabric online to border it up, making it finish to a nice, lap quilt size; fingers crossed that it will match. I did have a suggested final layout of this one in the packet but I ignored it and simply improvised by setting it block-to-block which, I think, gives it a modern, spontaneous, look and feel. Regardless, it's been checked off the "to do" list and now will be queued up, along with a few others(!) for quilting. Now, let's drop that remote control that's fast-forwarding through the days, weeks, months and years at break-neck speed! I can scarcely keep up.

Life is Good!

Fast-Forward Fourteen

It only took FOURTEEN years for these blocks to make it to the finished flimsy stage! Yep, I know that's how long it’s been because I looked it up; this was a block of the month project that occurred in 2007! 😲 I have a large plastic bin in the bottom of the stash closet, it contains more "antique" treasures too! Last week I dragged that bin out into the light of day and emptied its contents onto my sewing table. 

Here is what was awaiting me as I pawed through, what seemed like, years of my quilting life; six sets of unset blocks from BOM programs at my local quilt shop. The quilt pictured on top from 2007 wasn't the only one that I did blocks for that year, oh no; I also did what was known as the "traditional colorway" and piled those blocks up too! They're in the #3 pile above; this BOM was the "Hidden Stars Sampler", done with templates by Marti Michell, I have all the matching setting fabric neatly bundled together with the finished blocks which certainly makes bringing them to that all-important "flimsy" stage that much easier. Group #1, above, was a program entitled "Creative Options"; those are relative newcomers to the bin, they're from 2015, only six years old. The black/bright blocks in stack #4 are from 2011; I don't have any setting fabric from those but I do have the fabric and pattern for two additional blocks as I'd only completed ten. Why? Who knows, that was ten years ago! The mounds of blocks numbered #2 and #5 are harder to put exact dates to, they're VERY old; at least fifteen years have passed since I started those. The mound of fabric and blocks identified as #6 are red and white "trial" blocks from other projects, they've been collected over the years as I've experimented with  new patterns. So, here's the plan: none of them are going back into the shadows of the closet! The bin is now empty and it will remain that way. These UFO's have seen the light (as have their maker) and each is destined to make it into the "finished" column ASAP. From there; who knows, one step at a time. They've been sitting this long, clearly there's no identified destination. 

Progress report: "Summer Stars" has been loaded onto the rails for quilting. Unlike fine wine, flimsies don't necessarily improve with age; but, what does increase their value is to be quilted, bound and done!  And sew it goes... "instant" vintage! 😉 

Life is Good!

Finished is GREAT!!