March 2013 Progress Report

It's been a whirlwind month here and I have little to report, but some progress is being made. A few projects are in limbo because I'm working on borders for both of them, and here they are:

The first project is from the great Buggy Barn gals -- Barn Chicks. The pattern is published in their "Certifiably Crazy" book. I was able to make this quilt in just over a day while at my quilting retreat last month. I was going to add two borders, with the small inner border from the beak fabric, but there's not enough (think before you drink, my dear readers). While going through a couple of boxes I found another yellow I think will do nicely, but I haven't actually put it up on the design wall to audition it. This quilt is going to a special friend.

The second project is what I have spent just over two years hand appliqueing--the pattern is "Think Big" designed by Lorraine Hofmann and was published in American Patchwork & Quilting's February 2011 issue. It was supposed to be a year-long quilt-along project but with my schedule it didn't work out that way. I persevered and I'm so happy to have the blocks done that I do not want to do the applique border from the pattern. Instead, I plan to do a pieced border and will show you that when it's done. When I saw this pattern I thought that I had finally found the right quilt for our bed, but have since decided that it will go on the bed in our spare bedroom. That room has a lot of blue and ivory in it, and I think the black background will work nicely in there.

I love to applique by hand. It's very soothing to me to have a needle and thread in my hand, and it's especially so when I'm sitting somewhere waiting on someone or something; I take a project with me wherever I go. The Think Big project was huge (25" blocks), but I created a project carrier for it to make it portable.

So now I need a new hand applique project! I chose the Trick or Treat quilt from Blackbird Designs in their "Where the Cold Wind Blows" book. This quilt has 300 blocks that finish at 5" each. All that cutting sounded more like a trick than a treat, so I made modifications. I have an Accuquilt Studio cutter and a die for 6" finished squares. I enlarged the basket pattern by 120% and will only make 220 blocks (I hope) instead of 300. We'll see! But I have completed 11 blocks and I prepped 11 more last Saturday while the Girlfriends were here. Here are the completed blocks:

I was going to spend next week with my sister but plans have changed. I'm going to spend some time organizing the Bottoms Up! Studio this weekend and hope to squeeze in some quilting time. 

It's a soggy weekend here. Here's hoping the weather improves no matter where you are and that you're able to quilt for a spell--and hunt for Easter eggs Sunday!

Happy quilting,
Shari