Assembly Line

....Or should I say assembling line, since I am the only one working and I'm assembling quilts? The last six or eight weeks of piecing has wrought a LOT of completed blocks, and it was time to assemble some quilt centers. I was running out of places to put piles of blocks!

 

^The top quilt center in this pic will be for Mr. L, the boy half of my grandtwins. The twins have been using their baby blankets as drag around/TV quilts, but they are getting so big, the baby blankets aren't really big enough anymore. I'm hoping to have both of the twins new quilts made for Christmas, but I haven't started Miss S's quilt yet. I made two of each of these blocks, so I can make another quilt this same size.

 

^This quilt is for Mr. J in South Africa. He is getting promoted to a big boy bed as soon as I get this finished and shipped.

 

^This is the quilt that was determined to be. The dark pieces from the nine patches were from DH's grandmother's stash. The colors are purple, blue, green and a metallic gold. She only had scraps of this fabric, but she had several pieces of it, and DD#2 was hoping there was enough of it to be the center squares for the pineapple quilt I am making her. Well, I didn't think there was enough fabric, but I cut as many 2" squares as I could from the fabric. Of course, then I realized the directions had given the FINISHED size, so I should have cut 2 1/2" squares. No matter, there wasn't enough fabric anyway.

 

I had run out of leaders/enders the other day, so I grabbed the pile of matching squares, and some various WOW 2" squares from my Scrap User System, and made nine patches as leaders/enders. I ended up with 20 nine patches, and I knew I could make a baby quilt, if I put them on point. I have a fabric in stash that would make a great border for this quilt, it's purple and blue stripes with a metallic gold. With more purple and blue coming I didn't want the alternate squares either of those colors, and I didn't really want to use white. The green in the floral is an odd shade, but I had just purchased a remnant the other day that would match well. I didn't have very much of it, it was only a remnant after all, but I hoped it was enough. I cut the alternate squares just fine, but I realized I would be four setting triangles short!

 

I went back to the store, hoping they had gotten another bolt in, nope. Since they are a chain, I checked online, nope. Hmmmm....They had another fabric similar in color, but brighter. I bought a yard of that, knowing I could cut the alternate squares and the setting triangles if I bought a yard. The thing is, I liked the original fabric better. I decided I would only make the setting triangles from the brighter fabric. I cut the setting triangles oversized so I still need to trim the quilt before I put the border on, but I think it's going to be cute! Not bad for a quilt I had no plans to make.

 

 

^Here is another quilt center I worked on. I made the nine patches last summer, while busting through a shoebox full of 2" (cut) squares. Again, it needs to be trimmed before I border it, and I'm still debating an inner border for it. 



 

 

^This quilt is going to another of my grandson's in South Africa, Mr. Z. He is turning five next month, and is really interested in marine life, especially sharks.

 

All of those quilts are getting borders, just slab borders, though some are getting more than one border. I have too many quilts that need to be finished soon to piece a border. I am in the middle of assembling another quilt center, then I'll spend this weekend bordering as many as I can. I'm leaving to visit my parents on the 18th, and I'd like to have all of these quilt tops done, and at least one of them pin-basted. If I can get the backings pieced for them, that will really be a victory for me. The year is flying by, and I have several more quilts to make this year, time to get some finishes in!