WHEW

It has been a whirlwind the last week or so...but I suppose that is true for many readers. After tomorrow night, I will be taking down all the decorations and trying to stay away from junk food! LOL...I say that every New Years.

 I did have the chance to finish up a scrappy quilt that I have been working on. On the chair, you will see the back of the Scrappy Sunbonnet Sue I posted about months ago. I chose to use blue scraps because the border and the sashing sqaures were blue. I did use some of the same fabric on the back to give the quilt some cohesion. It is quilted with a machine decorative stitch in the ditch of the front sashing which gives it a pattern on the back. The back is embellished with small buttons from the TUB of old buttons that I have. It was fun to put the back together like a jigsaw puzzle. It finished at 62" sqaure.

Santa brought me the 2 1/2 inch strip cutter for my GO so I have been playing with that too.  I actually used it to cut the binding for this quilt.

There are certainly things I would do differently on this quilt but it was an experimental quilt. I experimented with different applique techniques on the front. This was also the first time I attempted to machine quilt a larger quilt. Before I had only done some table runners and baby quilts. The challenges I identified for myself included the difficulty in handling the bulkiness. I did roll the quilt and start in the middle. Rolling the quilt worked well as there is plenty of room on the machine but the roll kept unrolling. I also will have to move my machine away from the wall as the roll kept bunching when it hit the wall. I had plenty of room on the left as my machine table is large. I will probably have to put some kind of a table between the wall and the machine to catch the quilt roll. If I do decide to use a decorative stitch again I may choose a different one. This one seemed to pucker the fabric a little on the back. It is really not that noticable but I am really picky. I laughed when the quilting was done because I am so anal when it comes to matching seams....the stitching hid the corners so you really couldn't see them....

I am determined to use up many of the scraps that I have accumulated over the years. I still have to figure out what I will do with the large scrappy star quilt.

As for my new year, I am going to finish UFOS and use lots of the fabric that I have....until I go to the Lancaster PA area again....which will be sometime this spring.  My son and daughter-in-law gave us a gift certificate for a B&B there which is within walking distance of some of my favorite fabric shops in Intercourse, PA. 

Well, off to bake some banana bread for dinner with company tomorrow night....Have a great New Year, y'all.