Quilting time ..

We all want more time.  More time to __________.  But there are only so many hours in the day. And sometimes they just slip into a crack and I don't know where they've gone.  When I get up, I plan a small agenda in my head.  First come the animals. Then I will ___________.  And during that plan, I somehow look up and I've lost 4 hours and I still haven't had breakfast!  Mind you I most likely spent a lot more time with the animals. I am owned by a flock of chickens, 2 horses, 4 dogs and 1 cat.  They are pretty demanding some days.  Today's it after 2pm.  I have completed a long list of things, but I haven't gotten back to this quilt yet.  I have planned the borders, gotten my dimensions to where I want them (I use EQ 7 to help with this) .. and now I have to run to town.  So quilt will take a back seat til later I'm afraid.

Every day I plan quilting time. It might be 20 minutes, it could be 2 hours. But sometimes neither of that happens.

When I plan a quilt project, I know it will be time intensive. But the end result is satisfying to me. I work hard at it, it's square, and the pattern jumps out to you and becomes a treasure for the person I've created it for.  When I first started quilting, my first quilt was a log cabin.  I still love log cabins.  You can change just one thing and it becomes totally different.  This log cabin pattern uses 3 variations, a light, a normal 1/2 light and 1/2 dark, and a dark.  This quilt was started for my sister's 25th wedding anniversary.  We started planning it in 2006  (and must I mention that I've been planning it for a couple more?) 

 I spent 72+ hours on pressing, cutting strips, to piecing all the blocks, squaring half of the blocks AND making the first HALF of the quilt. 

Beginning a log cabin quilt is fun -- all the little pieces .. but you build all of them as you go.  I needed 16 light, 16 1/2 dark/light and 16 dark.

 I treated myself to a 3 day mini-vacay in Branson -- a room all to myself, swim every morning, had small meals .. and just sewed to my heart's content.  AND I had a whirlpool bath ... one night after swimming sewing and general mayhem, I put too much bubbles in !

Here are all the blocks with the pattern so you can see what it will look like.  Now .. time to assemble rows !

I really liked how this was coming along .. but it really does take some time to get this far.  I have 72 blocks that need to go in rows and sewn with an even seam.

The other night I couldn't sleep -- so I worked on the 2nd half ... so I've already got 72 hours in, now add another 6 ... and this is what I got .. wow .. now I'm excited !  And of course, not getting much sleep.

Then I worked on my numbers, adding borders, drawing out how it will really look ... and this doesn't even count making the back !

So all told now, I've got 85 hours just to this point. And where am I?  I have a center of a quilt complete. I have designed borders to go around this quilt that will make the dimensions 104x110 to allow  snuggling, drape and 'give me some covers plez'  LOL 

Now I have to complete the BACK of this quilt. One answer to the back is a wide back fabric that comes in wide dimensions.  I figured that I needed NINE yards of fabric to do the back.  And of course wide backs also come in an assortment of prints and can blend with your top, or not.  I will be using all my leftover fabrics to make an offset log cabin block that will make this quilt reversible when it is quilted.  It will be colorful and different. 

This is the start of it.  Now remember, my quilt top will be 104x110.  So this has to be 12" larger than the top.  So I've got some more squares to sew on. I'm going to recheck my numbers first before adding the next colors.  I have dark blue, 2 colors of green, 2 colors of purple, and 2 reds.  I think I'm set !

And I have enough of the green border I will add to the top for the binding .. this is one GIANT quilt ..

Now if someone asks how much this quilt costs:  priceless.  But if I had to give an estimate after supplies, quilting and thread costs .. hmmm... will have to do the math ! 

Til next time .. I'm going back to the sewing room ...

Dee