Solstice Challenge Update

Just wanted to make a quick post to show the latest in my blocks for the 182 Solstice Challenge.  Here is the last block that Pat Sloan gave us. It's HUGE! About 36" square, but pretty!

The pattern called for the same fabrics in the center star as the outer points, but I switched it up a bit with the yellow center star. Not sure I like that. I'm actually thinking of removing the four floral squares in the center and replacing it with four white squares. Than I can do some fancy quilting in it. What do you think? Would you leave it, or change it to white so it shows up better?

Then, just for jiggles, I threw up all the blocks I've made so far. One is a duplicate, but I put it there anyway.

Seeing all the blocks up on the board will help make my future fabric choices easier!

Looking forward to the next blocks, but not before we get to spend a little R 'n R in sunny, warm Arizona! I am SO looking forward to that.  Especially after we spent the past two days shoveling more than six feet (yes, that's 6 Feet of solid packed) snow off the decks and around the base of our cabin in the Sawtooth Mountains. SO looking forward to warm!!!

Quilting with a smile,
Barb

Linky Tuesday

Quilting in the snow. In June.

It was supposed to be a work weekend.

We came to our cabin in order to finish the painting and repairs to the lower level after the snow melt had seeped in and ruined the sheet rock. Then, in order to prep the house for staining and then chinking the logs, we were going to start stripping out the old plastic chinking that a previous owner had put on the outside logs.

We did get the painting done and the family room put back together. But the outside work:  zilch! Here's why:

It snowed all day! One flurry after another. Got up to a whopping 39 degrees. I even had to shovel snow off the deck.  Someone pinch me. Isn't this June?  I know we're in the Idaho mountains, but I sure could use a dose of summer.

The hummers are confused, but still hungry!

Come to think about it, they're always hungry!

So, what's a girl to do after the chores are done on a cold, snowy, summer day? Quilt, of course!  Fortunately I brought my sewing machine along and threw together a few necessities, and I was in business.

And this is the quilt I was working on. It is my Work In Progress quilt. About three years In Progress, in fact. It was my first big quilt project, a queen size, and I have done so many things wrong with it.  I did buy nice quality flannel for the top, but not knowing any better, I wanted to save money and found some 'cheap' flannel for the backings. Big mistake. It shrunk to about half its original size, and then I had to figure out to manipulate it to fit.

Then I bought thread from a quilting shop that was going out of business. It was Aurifil thread, so I figured it had to be good. It was good thread, but it was a 12 weight. It worked out beautifully on this flannel quilt with a lofty polyester batting (I had wanted it to be a really comfy, cozy, comforter-type quilt for the cabin.)  But the large spool I bought quickly ran out and I soon found out that nobody carries 12 weights! I searched and searched and searched until finally I found an online store in the Northeast - Follow That Thread - that had some of the same thread on order. Yeah! I was back in business.

I finished the machine quilting last month, and yesterday I cut out and attached the binding, and began hand-stitching it to the back. That's a long process! After 90 minutes, I thought I should be getting about done, but much to my dismay, I was less than half finished. Oh, well, I should be able to finish it up today and then decide which bed it will grace.

It has been quite a fun project to work on, and it was something just for me!

What's on your docket for today?

Barb