step aside i have to finish this quilt!

For the last few days I have been busy sewing. It feels great! I’ve had this particular quilt project hanging over my head for the past 6 or 7 years. That’s all. I may have mentioned before that I’ve made quilts for my children – about the time that they graduate from high school. Unfortunately for my youngest son, his quilt has not been completed. In fact, I haven’t worked on it for YEARS. I ran out of steam and enthusiasm for the project because the four quilts are quite similar, and I just couldn’t face doing another one! After giving it a lot of thought, I decided to change things up a bit, toss the original plan for the quilt and work with what I had.

I had all the blocks for the quilt started – stars appliqued in the center and several rows of color stitched around them. The blocks were supposed to be rectangular, so for starters I decided that they would morph to squares. They would need to be more free-spirited with little regard for what the other blocks looked like. I cut strips of fabric to add to my collection, and I started putting them together. I have finished (except to trim) 5 blocks and the rest are coming along nicely. Once they are all the same size, I will lay them out on the floor to arrange them and decide how to put them together. You’ll see.

Here are the bins full of fabric strips – an artist’s color palette – ready to be added to the quilt blocks.

This is what the blocks look like during the design and construction process. I sew on a strip of color, iron the strip in place, trim the edges and look for a strip to add to a different side of the block. This way I can build to the size needed.

And finally here are the five blocks that are almost finished. They are big enough but might be trimmed to a uniform size. Then again, some of them might grow some more and there might be different sizes.

Decisions, decisions. I just love working with all this inspiring color heaped on my sewing table! With any luck at all, Marc will have his quilt before he finishes university. (There is a good chance of this happening, since once I get into a project I’m like a woman possessed!)