The Just Enough Quilt

The working name for my current piecing project has been Blue Thistle, but I really ought to call it the Just Enough Quilt. I’ve had just enough of several of the fabrics to be able to finish it. Such are the perils of working from stash. I enjoy the challenge, though.

Blue Thistle is a remake of a quilt I finished last spring. This was the original design:

When I hung it up outside, in natural light, I discovered that the background was made of up two different colors of Kona. The leftovers from another quilt had accidentally made their way into this one. I liked the effect, but it would have looked better if it had been planned instead of random—keeping the beige fabric within the flower squares, for instance.

Last fall, I was all about the blues, so I put this block together:

I liked it, although I ended up swapping in a slightly more saturated turquoise—with sparkles!—for those inner corner blocks. The large hourglass blocks also have a different periwinkle print, although it is the same shade. I pulled all the fabrics and kept them together in one bin. To get that cream/white background effect, I used a cream/white Grunge, a shade lighter and whiter than the one in the test block.

I cut all my units and started piecing. I knew I was going to have just enough of the periwinkle print that there was no margin for error and no more of that fabric to be had anywhere. The project got shelved some time in November with 2/3 of the flower blocks assembled.

I’m trying to move some of these projects through the pipeline, so I pulled the bin containing this project last week. I finished assembling the 12 flower squares and started making the chain squares. Yesterday, I finished the chain squares and put all the blocks up on the design wall so I could begin assembling the top.

But wait!—I only had 12 flower squares. The original quilt had 13. My EQ layout had 13. What happened? Could I make one more flower block? I rummaged around in my scrap bins hoping to find a bit more of the periwinkle fabric. Nope. That was not going to be an option.

And then it hit me. The layout is 25 blocks—13 of one and 12 of the other. If I only had 12 flower blocks, I could have 13 chain blocks and adjust the layout accordingly. I made up one more chain block.

It worked.

The layout is different, yes, but the overall effect is the same. And the best part is that the center is all done.

I still need to add two borders. I thought the small inner border would look nice in that turquoise sparkle print, so I calculated how much fabric I needed for a 2” wide finished border. There is just enough, with one narrow strip of fabric left over.

The outer border is going to be the same print that is in the center of the blocks, but I at least had the foresight to buy more of that last fall. I should have plenty. I’ll get this one finished and added to the (ever growing) to-be-quilted pile.

I’ve cut the strips for the Sunbonnet Sue sashing. Finishing that top is up next on the list. I decided to switch back to a simpler sashing, though. I didn’t like the sashing I used in the Churn Dash quilt as much as I thought I would, and that was the same sashing I had planned to use for the Sunbonnet Sue quilt.

I’ve been using the planner system I set up and I like it a lot. It has allowed me to better track projects moving through the pipeline. I would still like to have some shelving that allows me to store the projects, though. Keeping them in bins is helpful; having the bins in one location (and labelled) would be even more helpful.

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DD#2 bought a patio set for her apartment balcony. When we were there a few weeks ago, she asked if I would make different covers for the cushions. My brain, of course, went straight to retina-burning, saturated bold prints. I sent her some ideas. She texted me back and said she was thinking more along the lines of sedate beige.

That made me laugh. I know her decorating style is way more modern and streamlined than mine. She showed me the prints she liked and sent me the cushion measurements. I’ve ordered the fabric and will start working on those so I can take them with me next month.

Our cold snap seems to be over. The forecast is for another wet week in the mid-40s. I’ve got two serger classes next week—one at each quilt store—and then it’s going to be time to plant seedlings.