The Best Kind of Wednesday -

Don't you just love it when things fall into place and you find you have TIME to put something together?

My Nearly Lemoyne quilt was at the forefront of my day yesterday.

Morning chores done - the day was warm and sun-filled.  The windows were open at the QPO with barely the gentlest of breezes stirring the air.

I lit an autumn scented candle.  I made a cup of coffee, drinking it from a new mug received as a gift from a visiting friend a couple of weeks ago.  I think of her every time I use it!

I put my Pandora on shuffle - and oh, what an eclectic mix of music became my backdrop as I laid out all of the border units where they needed to go.  I stitched pieced borders.  I added the inset border to the inside edge of the pieced borders, and finally, it all came together.  

Just like that.

In any scrap quilt, I am bound to include "something old" as well as "something new." It's a way to say hello to my younger self, letting her know "Hey! It's going to turn out okay!" and "Just hang on, it's going to be a wild ride!"

Fabric choices that capture the past 39 years of my life as a quilter:⁣

The grey/burgundy print you see as background for this half star is one with loads of history.

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It is a VIP print circa 1980 something and one of the first prints I purchased as a young new quilter with a dreadfully tight budget. ⁣
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We were married in 1981. Son Jason was born in 1983 so somewhere around there is a safe guess. I loved this little old fashioned print long before there were reproduction fabrics available. 
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The burgundy masculine print is from a recycled shirt! 
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The pink batik is a more recent acquisition. ⁣
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I love how these fabric choices represent so many memorable stops on the time line of my life as a quilter. 
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What do your own fabric choices say about your own quilting life journey? ⁣

Everything ready to add to the center.

When red inset borders just pull it all together and the obvious choice is yellow for the cornerstones. 

As I opened the cabinet holding the red stash, I just had to smile - all of that work to cull through nearly every piece of fabric I own has had its rewards.  This bright red has a bit of an old-fashioned feel, but the vibrancy in color just accents everything in the quilt. 

The 4 yellow cornerstones were pulled from my scrap squares drawer.  4 different fabrics, but all nearly the same yellow.

I'm looking at a lighter yellow as binding so it doesn't upstage the red inset border.

This photo is slightly blurry!

It isn't your glasses - LOL.

I can retake another later today, but I'm blogging from the cabin studio this morning and the quilt top is at the QPO.  But this gives you an idea.

The hardest part for me?  And not really hard, but a bit of a pain as I am not an excessive pinner -

I sewed the inset border to the pieced border first before adding that as a whole to the quilt center.

I needed to match half star centers with the centers of the full stars, and the seams in between the blocks so things would line up.

My tip is:  BEFORE pressing that red inner border away from the half star blocks, I marked dots within what would be the seam allowance with a fine point sharpie on the wrong side of the red inner border just where seams needed to line up. And then I pressed. 

The dots would be hidden in the seam. They were on the wrong side of the fabric.  It was a permanent marker which wouldn't bleed through, and I used a light touch just so I could see where to line up my pins.

That made pinning a snap.  Even for this girl who hates pinning.

And the toile challenge continues!

Plump cherub angel babies - wings, loin cloths and all! LOL!

I mentioned my previous love of toile in theory, but reluctance to use it because it doesn't cut up well.  LOL!

I am blaming that trip to Paris I took years ago - I love the toile, I do - but how do you cut heads and arms and legs off of cherubic angel babies??

And this print is LARGE.  I have no idea what I was planning to do with it - 

There isn't enough to do the entire back with this - but my goal is to to keep all of the babies going in one direction (Because it IS directional!) and cut off as few heads as possible in the process.

Who says the backing needs to match the quilt?

Isn't it more interesting if it leaves people wondering what the heck I was thinking long after I'm gone? (Hey, they wonder that already and I'm still here!)

You will be seeing wild backings coming out of the culled stash bins for quite a long while!

More Appalachian Autumn quilt love coming from @scottiebelle_designs

"My latest quilt finish. It’s called Appalachian Autumn (pattern by Bonnie Hunter)."

Beautiful finish! Thank you for tagging me! 🤗

I love thinking of where you will display your Appalachian Autumn quilt in your home all the way through Thanksgiving when it is time to switch Autumn décor for Christmas or Hanukah colors.

Are you hanging it on a wall?  Draping it over a sofa or on your dining room table?  Send me a photo of where you have yours! (Email link beneath my signature below.)

Maker beware!

You just might have so much fun making string pieced leaves that you end up with a BEDSIZED version, like Diane who writes:

"Thank you so much for such a wonderful pattern. I  Got a little carried away when making my leaf blocks, this ended up being king size. I was inspired by my trees in my backyard.

 

I also had a  bunch of HST's left over so I wanted to incorporate them into the border somehow. This is what I came up with."

This is SO BEAUTIFUL, Diane!  Great job!

The PDF pattern for Appalachian Autumn is available in the Digital Patterns section of the Quiltville Store.

Adorable Punkin' Patch throw by Lynn!

She writes:

"My pumpkin patch throw with my quilting assistant Zach.

I had so much fun making the string pumpkins I made extra.  I finished them into single mats quilted and bound and sent them to friends  and family with a note, "Happy Fall".

Everyone loved them, thank you for the fun pattern.

We are enjoying a beautiful fall in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina."

I love it Lynn!  Zach is a sweetie, and he has good taste! LOL!

The PDF pattern for my Punkin Patch table runner is on sale for just $5.00 in the Digital Patterns section of the Quiltville Store.

But the sale is only good through the month of October, and we are half way through with this month already!  

Do you know what else happens at the end of this month?

We have a new mystery introduction happening in Halloween! Are you in? Be watching this space and my blog for more info! 

Quiltville Quote of the Day

You can't start anywhere but right where you are! Just keep at it. 

Roll, Roll Cotton Boll was once a Quiltville Mystery and is featured in my book String Fling  on sale in the Quiltville Store for just $19.99! 

Just start where you are and enjoy your Thursday, folks!