Almost There!

Just the "center" part of the quilt.  What will the border be?

Here's a new one I started this week.  The six blocks on the outside and the pastel block in the middle were from a trade where the blocks were supposed to be 12-1/2",  but none of these even came close to 12".  For the original trade, I wound up making six blocks to replace these and sending those off instead.  But since I've always been intrigued by this pattern,  so I kept them and knew I would one day turn them from UFOs to a finished quilt.  You can see I added a very thin sashing between the blocks, primarily because Sabryin complained there was "too much white" and then I decided to cut the 160-something 2-1/2" squares (one-by-one by the way) and use those for the background.

Now I am at the point where I need to determine what the border will be.  If you have ideas, leave a comment. 

Adventures in Seam Ripping

Laid out the finished top to measure and OOPS! Can you see it?

I finished this top from long-ago UFO ('90s) tan and burgundy Ohio Stars and I was really happy with the arrangement.  Unfortunately, not every one of the blocks was exactly 9-1/2", so there was a lot of seam ripping and resewing involved in getting this far.   Then I laid out the top and realized my adventure in seam ripping was not over yet!  Can you see it?

Yep.  Those triangles are headed in the wrong direction.

 Well, this sort of thing happens to the best of quilters so it is unsurprising that it happened to me.  However, I was up to the task and ripped those seams and replaced those errant triangles with white and it is now a really cool top.  Hope to get it pinned and quilted soon.

What to do with left-over blocks!  

And there were eleven blocks left over and there is no such thing as a "left-over" in my stash, so I made one more Ohio Star block to make this little crib quilt, which is 50" x 63".  Not quilted yet, but soon.

Then I wanted to talk about making quilts.  These two are the fourth and fifth quilts I've made for myself so far this year (I've also made two small quilts for a client).  I have a quilt closet which is completely full and one full five-shelf bookcase.  I sometimes try to count them, but I get really wrapped up in the sewistry and the textiles and colors that I lose track; but there are probably close to two hundred.  Every time I tell my sister I'm making a new quilt (which I'm always doing at this point), she says "What for?  Don't you have enough already?  You should try to sell them!"  Some of my friends share the same opinion.  So, why is it wrong for me to want to keep my quilts?

Every quilt I've ever made and gave away is still in my heart.  I remember one that I made for a public radio fund-raising auction.  It was stolen.  I have made innumerable quilts for new babies of friends and family and I always wonder what happened to them.  Are they in storage?  Were they sold at garage sales?  Were they destroyed by the family pet?  Used as beach or picnic blankets or -- HORRORS!  -- truck bed liners!  I know of one that was given away, but at least it's still in the family.  I loved it and I poured my heart and soul into making it but it was not treasured as I had hoped. 

So, I keep them.  Can you relate to this, or am I the only one?