Are We There Yet?

First off, the Iraqi Bundles of Love project is coming to a close. You should take a moment to go read IBOL Guy's current post. It will make you feel good.

Second, I want to congratulate Renee S. who is the lucky winner of my Pink Artist needlebook. (I'm going to do my best to get it into the mail to her sometime this week.) And, woohoo, I won a print from Alma Stoller!

Now, back to the back for my Lincoln Logs flannel quilt. You may remember that I'd put a light plaid on all four sides but didn't like the way it looked. I took off two of those strips and cut the remaining two down to half their original size. The next thing I did was to add the dark blue floral you see here on the two sides. That was another piece of fabric I've been hanging onto for years in the hopes of including it in a quilt for myself someday.

Today I added what I thought would be the final strips/borders. This red plaid went on all four sides. But when I measured it against the top it was too short in both width and length. I was disappointed, but not terribly surprised because my measuring has been less than precise.

I only lacked half an inch in one direction. Since there was plenty of the plaid left I simply took off one of the borders and replaced it with a slightly wider one. On the two sides, however, I put in a little more effort. I cut two 2.5" strips (which had to be pieced to get the necessary length of course) and added them to each side. Now I get this cool vertical stripe effect every once in a while along those two sides.

My hope is to be able to take the top, the back, batting and some pins to a local VFW hall tomorrow to get the layers sandwiched. Originally I had planned to have this machine quilted, maybe in a clamshell or Baptist fan type pattern. Now I think I'd rather have it tied. It seems more appropriate somehow. And I can do it inbetween making blocks for DGD's quilt. ;- )