One Step Closer to Finished

Since my last post I've done more cutting than piecing. I've also made three trips to my local quilt shop but only one resulted in fabric actually being purchased. There's a better-than-usual sale going on. There have also been groups sewing in the next door annex. The first time I tried to shop my nose stopped me as soon as I opened the shop door. I had to turn around without even stepping foot inside and go back home. I made it into the store on the second trip but there were so many customers I didn't feel safe sticking around. People don't realize how very fragrant they are between the laundry products in their clothing, scented hair products, deodorants and of course, perfume. 

On my final attempt I was at least able to buy fabric to back two quilt tops. It took more brain power than I was prepared for however. There wasn't quite enough yardage of the ideal print for the back of the Macabre Medallion, and nothing that looked quite right to back my Precious Gems top. Eventually I figured out ways around those issues. I also bought some of this batik to potentially use with my F2F2 blocks:

I have another print that's also a black background with yellow and orange splashed on it that I might use as sashing. The batik would be borders. Here's a quick reminder of the blocks I received:

I haven't yet decided - or even given much thought to - how I'll set these. I always strive to do something unexpected or out of the ordinary though.

The cutting I've been doing has been to trim four quilts in preparation for binding. I don't have detail shots yet of the quilting; I'll try to remember to get those for you. James was busy with our local Shakespeare Festival during the summer months and then had one thing after another go wrong with the third-hand long-arm machine he uses. He had a pile of tops and backs and now I have a pile of quilts to bind! The largest quilt I had to trim was my F2F quilt, which I made to fit our double bed. The other three are donation quilts and are all smaller (thank goodness!).

The trimmings from these four quilts made my scrap pile grow so high it was in danger of toppling over.

Here the scrap pile is leaning up against my sewing machine.

I'm going to have to find somewhere else to store them or something to toss them into! I'm beginning to give some thought to what I might do for next year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Not sure I can wait that long to do something about this pile however. ;- )