Of Quilt Tops & Pieced Backings!

It was a weekend of "extra width"

I was a woman on a mission - so close to the finish that I couldn't stop myself from making the "one row extra" so I had enough drop on the sides of my king sized Snail's Trail quilt.

It set me back a bit - I was so eager to get this done that I nearly felt deflated at the realization that the extra row was 360 pieces in total.  AUUGH!

But then - realizing that another 360 scrap pieces would find a place to live instead of being stuffed into bins, bags and buckets - again, it's all how you look at it!

Extra row being sewn on.

If only these scraps could talk!

Or maybe - they shouldn't.

Stay stitching around the edge to hold the seams together and stop the stretch.

Mrs. Potato head - so much fun to include you!

And just like scraps tend to do -

They find themselves too close to each other!

Those two purple triangles with yellow polka dots are definitely eye catchers - and of course they would be in line with each other and not separated by a few rows and a bit of  horizontal distance?

It stays.

It's a good thing I have a 14' long longarm table!

Here it is.  All 6,800 pieces.

And I love it.

As does the Lola girl!

Yesterday's job was to set in with backing making.

I wanted to do the same thing with the bin of florals as I had done with the boxes of random triangles and short pieces. ANNIHILATION!

Huge tub going down!

Big florals are hard for me to use in a quilt top, unless I'm using them for borders.

I love big splashy prints for backs, but the pieces were not big enough to do the whole back with one fabric - I needed about 9 yards to cover this much quilt.

More if I am sewing smaller pieces together.

My goal was to tackle the smaller chunks - anything from Fat Quarter to half-yard.

This is making it hard, Lola!!

The sunny spot is her domain, and yesterday morning that sun was perfect - for HER! Not for me!

Can I have these strips please??

The easiest way for me to tackle this was to cut the strips 10 1/2'' wide so they'd finish at 10''.  The length varies by whatever I could get out of the piece, but the widths are all the same.

Holding down the piles!

Ready to sew it all up!

And here we are. 

It's MONSTROUS.

And it just may be my newest favorite backing EVER.

Loading and quilting likely won't begin until tomorrow as I am rushing out the door in about 45 minutes to head down to Jonesville where Jeff, Ashlyn & Casden are ready to move into their new house today.

That means that Casden gets his denim quilt!

It's a big day for them - Moving is so stressful.  Moving in the rain is going to be a challenge.  But we are all here to help them get it done in record time.

Yesterday's IG Quiltfest day 30 prompt: 

(I shared the photos I took of Lola above as the prompt while making the backing, so not embedding it again here to avoid redundancy)

"Do you have a quilting bucket list? We want to know the quilt that you must make or the event that you are holding out for, and if you have plans for either in the next year, so we can join in the fun!"

This question is LOADED!! I don't know where to start, seriously

The first big thing is letting you know about my 2021 Leader & Ender challenge that starts in July.  It's all about making UNITS which become blocks in between the lines of other stitching instead of sewing over a folded scrap of trash fabric to keep your chain piecing continuous.

Watch for more to come about that around the 1st of July. It's the kind of fun that lasts all year long.

Our Current Leader & Ender Challenge is still in full swing - click the free patterns tab on my blog and scroll down to Easy Breezy.

Our Quiltville Winter Mystery is tons of fun and I am already pulling fabrics and testing blocks for that - usually by June I know what I am doing so I can have yardage/colors/background info ready for you by HALLOWEEN.  So join in this year and sew along with us. 

Other things I am looking forward to SO MUCH! 

I am excited to resume traveling through Craftours.com when given the go ahead and we have MANY exciting destinations ahead of us. 

Poland, Viet Nam, Japan, Ireland, Italy, Egypt and Morocco are ALL on the books!  Find out more information by clicking the tour tabs at top of my blog. Come travel the world with me!

Tap the blog icon in my highlights and you are there. (Best viewed on a real computer where tabs are visible.)

I dusted off my passport last night just to be sure it was still there and not expired.  I will be ready to go when it is safe to go.  Really, think of coming with me!

Other things to remember - Yesterday was our March Quilty Box gift-away post, and it is an AWESOME box!!  Did you enter to win ON THAT POST?

Our drawing will happen MONDAY.

And this is it, folks - the LAST DAY!

The printable PDF pattern for Tulip Time is currently marked 25% off in the in the Quiltville Store, no coupon required. 

This sale is good through TODAY, Wednesday, March 31st, 2021.  The pattern will revert back to full price TOMORROW morning my time, Thursday, April 1st, 2021.

Okay - I'm off to go play the moving game with my son!

(And yes, the commode is now gone from in front of Quiltville Inn! It was a great "Put it Out!" season!)

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

Vintage quilt found in La Salle, IL.

If it's all you can think about, find a way to make it happen.

Even baby steps can move you forward!

Have a wonderful Wednesday, everyone!