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Welcome to Finish it off Saturday!!!!

an excerpt from my blog www.sewahundred.blogspot.com

Today is a beautiful sunny day here on the Eurobodalla coast. Sun is shining, the ocean is bluer than blue and the smell of spring resonates through the tree ferns at my door.

I so often berate myself for the unfinished things in my world then have to remind myself of the variables that present me with no time to get things done. I have had to pack up the sewing and put away so many times now that I am reticent to get it all out and start again - but with washing to be done, marking to get to, twinny christening gowns to get started on and a few other little projects to be realised I still need to have some time for me ( I have promised year 12 that I will cook - grrrrr hate cooking - afternoon tea for them for finishing off an essay and coming to an after school study session).

Today, just for me, I plan to sew. Went to the UFO box and fished for something I could finish before lunch. Found a quilt that I started a few years ago.

Initially I began this quilt when my oldest daughter was pregnant with her first baby. She had just bought an enormous king size sleigh bed and I wanted to make her a quilt for it. As with all my plans and projects I tried to think how I would be able to get something done that would not take years to create and finish - hahaha!

I decided to try a Baltimore album style quilt - using the scherenschnitte concept. Things got started and I decided on 16 inch blocks so I could see the quilt develop quickly in terms of size. I cut out and appliqued the four blocks in this finished quilt and then something happened ( probably school) and things got put away. A few months later I cut out four more blocks but then realised that I had cut the background squares too small and they would not match. Not happy Jan! I had already cut out and appliqued long panels ( I was doing quilt as you go and then sewing all the pieces together at the end) but had lost the little bag of leaves I had cut out so was getting quite frustrated.

In my frustration I decided to change the whole concept for the quilt. I made the decision to put the four completed big blocks together then put a border around those - with floral appliqued vines and then use the four other blocks as corner setting blocks thus creating a medallion style quilt. What I would do with the border appliques was not an issue at the time - I put them away in the nether regions of the sewing cupboard and hoped they would not fall out and haunt me for a few years (now I will have to search them out and make some decision as to what to do with them).

When the baby finally came along the quilt was still in an unfinished state- had so many baby quilts to make in the meantime. I went out to stay with my daughter for most of the Christmas holidays and the future of this quilt went awry. Cleaning her house and moving things that just did not fit out to the garage I found a precious Sunbonnet Sue quilt I had made and hand embroidered for my girl when she was about eight years old. There it was, lying on the floor of the garage, half covered in mud and grit. What could/did I say ?... too much probably!

I salvaged the quilt and have it now home here with me where it has been carefully cleaned and is in the process of being restored to its former glory. The appliqued quilt was put away.

I pulled it out about a year ago and decided to quilt each block separately and make cushions. I did some heavy echo quilting around each applique and once the initial four blocks were quilted decided they would still make a nice lap quilt. I quilted the sashing separately with a green embroidery thread design of leaves and stitched the quilted pieces together. Loved it then left it. The quilt top has been sitting in the UFO box in its quilted state for about a year now. Today I put a back on it and finally some bindings.

I am really pleased with the finished product; may not be what I initially intended and will probably be something I give away but it is now a completed UFO.

Here are some pictures of the blocks and sashing and finally the finished quilt. The quilt measures approx 1.5 metres square.