Quilt Top Finished

Chookyblue and Googy Girl have decided to egg each other on to get some stitching done. (Oops!  I that bad pun wasn't intentional.) (Click on the links to see what they are up to.)  Anyway, they are attempting to do at least ten minutes of sewing each day for 30 days.

As I want to make a serious dent in all the projects in my sewing room I thought I could play along as well.

The project I am focusing on at the moment is my Modern Half Square Triangle Sampler Quilt.  I have all the blocks done, and I was undecided whether or not to add sashings.  Mick liked the idea of the sashings, and as I couldn't make up my mind, I went with that.

On Thursday I cut out the rows of sashings and cornerstones.  That took about half an hour.  Challenge met. I was doubtful if I would have enough of a suitable dark blue, so was thrilled to find that I had just enough of this one that I have used in the blocks.  I have less than a charm square left over.  That means that the entire quilt, including backing is from stash. You have to be happy with that.

Late yesterday afternoon I thought I could join all the rows of sashings to their cornerstones.  That took about twenty five minutes.  What the heck, let's join the short sashings to the sides of the blocks and create those rows.  Now I was up to three hours!!!! Time to get some dinner on.

I could see progress, so why not keep going after dinner and get the sashing rows joined to the rows of blocks.  Eleven o'clock at night and it was done - five and a half hours of stitching later!! So much for ten minutes.

What is it about cats.  As soon as you put a quilt on the floor they have to walk straight onto it.

I was really on a roll now, so I got up very early this morning and cut out the final border and stitched it on.  Two hours of stitching before breakfast and I have a completed quilt top - 84 inches square. Woo Hoo!! Happy Dance!!

After lunch I thought I'd better join the backing fabric.......then I thought about it some more. I couldn't just sew two widths of fabric together, as that doesn't provide enough for overhang.  Blast!  Get out the leftover fabrics and piece a strip for up the middle.  That took a bit longer that anticipated, but it is done......and no photo....I forgot.

After a phone call to see if my friendly quilting fairy was at home it has now been delivered for her to work her magic.  Hopefully it will come back in a couple of weeks.  I was aiming to get the top done this month, but depending on how soon it is returned, it may now be a goal to have the whole thing finished this month.  Wouldn't that be wonderful.

Tomorrow I think I will prepare the binding.  That shouldn't take too long, but will meet the challenge.

Does all this work give me credits?