Progress on several things

The borders are on the blue Boxy Stars, the eighth top I've finished this year. I'd like to get it quilted sometime soon, but I'm not holding my breath on that. I have a few things coming up that will take me away from the workshop, so quilting is just not on the cards.

I finished most of the blocks in this cheerful quilt, which I'm calling Paint Box. Now I"m on to deciding on the borders.  

I'm leaning towards a piano key border using all the fabrics in the centre, but I haven't decided if I want a random selection, or a more colourwash effect. I don't think I have the energy to make that many choices about fabric placement, so it will probably be random.  Maybe by the time I finish I'll be able to see a reduction in these bright pastel fabrics; I've been concentrating on these modern prints for most of this year, and I still have plenty left. I guess they're a permanent section of the stash now.

My leader-enders are these low contrast spinning rectangles. I usually make every effort to make sure there is a contrast between fabrics, but with these I'm going for a Vintage/Liberty/1974 look. These little florals were all we could get when I started patchworking (in 1974) so it's a nod to my early days as a patchworker.

It's time to get this top onto the finished pile.  The blocks are 6", so I went to my box of 6" strips and auditioned these rectangles.  It would be an easy way to edge this; most of my modern fabrics are FQs, not a lot of yardage, so this would solve the border problem nicely. When the Paint Box top comes off the design wall I'll pop this up there, and it should only take an afternoon to sort out.

A start and a finish

I finally found enough time to get the borders on my Granny Squares quilt.  I'm really pleased to have this done at last.  Now I have to start looking for a backing for it, and then it can go into the queue to be quilted.

I sewed all the blue-green Boxy Stars blocks together, and now they are waiting for borders.  Once the design wall was empty I immediately started a new project.

It involves about 100 of these little 9patches, made with 1.25" strips. I'm using them with striped sashing, and the 4.5" squares I cut from my pretty fabrics nearly 2 years ago.

I'm making blocks of four of the same colour; I think that will be easier than trying to do a random placement of colours.  I'm no good at random, it makes my brain ache.

I spent several nights doing nothing but sewing green and white strips together, then cutting them into 4.5" lengths for sashes, and making the little 9patches.  EQ8 tells me that I've used 1.75 yards of the white fabric, and I believe it.  There are several different white remnants in here, I kept having to scrabble through drawers and come up with more pieces of white. I doubt that the differences will show, and it feels really good to have used up all those leftovers. 

I've kitted up all the sashes and 9patches I'll need; I'm just wondering if I should pack it all way with the 4.5" pretty squares and save it for another day.  I do love to have a kit on the shelves waiting, but I also want to see how this turns out. I think it may have a piano key border, to use up all the little strips I have left from other projects.

Mereth and I went to the optometrist a couple weeks ago. My eyes haven't changed as far as my prescription goes, but I have a cataract that is causing me some problems.  We talked options, and I've decided to wait another 6 -12 months before I have surgery.  It's still only an inconvenience, I can deal with it for a little longer. Mereth needs new glasses, but her new prescription is nearly the same as my old one, so she borrowed my spare glasses until her new ones come.  It's useful to have a twin sometimes.

And to make life even more interesting, I have shingles.  It's not a really bad case, but it's still no fun.  I have anti-virals, and a painkiller for the nerve pain, and I'm getting on with life.  But I can't go near Finn, who hasn't had his chicken pox vaccination yet.  I would feel terrible if I gave him chickenpox, so I'm staying home until there's no chance of infecting him. Sitting at the sewing machine hurts after a while, so I sew until I need a break, then iron stuff or cut out, and then go back to the sewing machine. I briefly considered lying around reading while I'm feeling poorly, but rejected that.  Sewing is a good distraction, and eventually I'll have a quilt top to show for it.