A Finish and a Stumblingblock

I have completed the binding on my F2F2 quilt (Footsquare Freestyle round two).

The blocks were made by quilters around the world - thank you ladies! This is a regulation twin size quilt, 65" x 88."  I had James quilt it in an allover leaf design. I love it!

He was able to use a variegated thread my sister bought for me some years ago. The allover leaf is one of my favorites of his quilting patterns. It was an easy decision to use that design given the leaves in the batik sashing and border. :- )

Meanwhile, I've swapped out one of the short sashing strips between my batik friendship blocks.
Before:

After:

Do you see the difference? In the second column from the left, about halfway down. The first strip was too dark. I'm happier with this other print. However, I discovered I didn't have as much yardage as I needed for the long vertical sashing strips. I went out to look for more and found an acceptable print in the yellow I was planning to use. But when I got home, affected by the fumes from the outing, I suddenly wasn't sure about my original plan. I still want to make this a strippy quilt (vertical columns separated by single fabric strips - much like the F2F2 quilt) but I'm no longer as confident of the yellow I was planning to use. The good people at eQuilter had a turquoise batik in their clearance department that looked like it might be a good fit with this project. So until my order arrives this quilt has been put on hold. I'm making up the rest of the purple, green, and caramel scrappy trip blocks that will go into the comfort quilt for Covered in Love. It's an ideal project for this period of time while my brain is not fully functional.

It's So Pretty!

I got out my F2F2 blocks the other day. They've just been sitting there, waiting for me to have the energy to do something with them. I finally decided not to make any blocks of my own to add to the collection. The blocks I'd made previously didn't seem to fit in with the blocks I received from the rest of the group. But the rest of the blocks work wonderfully well together! So well, in fact, that it didn't take long to get a pleasing arrangement for a strippy set quilt top (four columns of six blocks each).

I already had a couple of options for sashing and/or borders.

There were other possibilities too but these were the strongest contenders. It didn't take long to figure out where and how to  use them either. The squiggles went between the blocks to create columns and the leafy print (which is a batik) would separate the columns and maybe frame the quilt top if there was enough of it.

There was! But just barely. I only have the equivalent of about 8" x 18"  left. 

Of course it's too big (about 65" x 88") to fit into a single picture given the parameters of my studio space. But isn't it pretty?! Or maybe 'dramatic' is a more accurate word. Whatever, I love it!

This is the lower edge. I hope that shot doesn't make you dizzy - it's sort of doing that to me.

I have backing fabric in the wash right now. I even know how I want it quilted, which is rare for me. I'm going to have James do an overall leafy design, much like the pattern in the batik. We're going to see whether the variegated orange-yellow-red polyester thread I have will work. Some threads work better than others, and it's not always easy to predict which ones will cooperate. I think I have enough of the squiggle print to use for binding too. 

This quilt just makes me so happy! It's been a great experience from beginning to end. As of this writing there won't be another round of Footsquare Freestyle in the immediate future but if someone else decides to spearhead another block swap I'll probably be one of the first to sign up. ;- )

I almost forgot! A HUGE thank you to all the ladies who contributed to this quilt! Lynn and Sandra and Kate and Susan and Esther and Moira and Gun and Claire, you're all rock stars!