The theme for this week’s Quilting Gallery contest is Beach and See Quilts.

I entered my Neutral Strip Twist because when I finished it I was looking for a name with “sand”  in the title.  I never did get a name on the quilt before I gave it to my nephew and his wife, but for this contest it’s called “Sand Twists”.  This is a Bonnie Hunter pattern that is available HERE.

Check out the other quilts entered this week and then vote for your favorite.

Actually, this will be row 3.  4 more rows to go.

I’m on a roll.  My challenge was to make 18 of the 36 red and white square in a square blocks.  These will be the cornerstones in my Christmas Row Quilt.  When I was writing out the steps I hemmed and hawed about whether or not to do 18 twice or to do all 36.  I decided to go with 18 because I can’t make a good Square in a Square block without a lot of ripping, muttering and finally deciding ‘that will just have to do’.

Clearly I can’t say that any more.  I followed Bonnie Hunter’s Square in a Square Tutorial and the blocks came out nearly perfect.  Thank you Bonnie!

Since I’m on this roll, I think I’ll keep working on this quilt top.  I’ll save my bag of UFO Quilt Steps until I need a change.

Was is just yesterday when I said I was off to sandwich the Crossword Puzzle quilt and it would be late this month before I worked on my UFO?

Here’s my excuse:

Yesterday after work I worked on sandwiching the Crossword Puzzle quilt.  My method involves my large ironing board (abt 24 x 60) and basting spray.  Typically I don’t have any problems.  However, for the first time I’m using a homespun for the backing and it is not as stable as I’m used to.

I got the backing on just fine.  Then I flipped the backing and batting over and spray basted the quilt top.  Took great pains to keep the batting “square” with the plaid.  Everything looked good.  So my next step was to mark the quilt.

Since the plan was to mark the stitching lines using painters tape (love that stuff) across the diagonal, I turned the quilt — but in doing so, I saw the backing was scrunched.  So, I flipped the quilt over backing up just to see how bad it was.

It’s too bad.  I’ve got to get those wrinkles out.  But how?  That’s when I walked away from the “current” project and back to my  “UFO Steps” project.  Except, by this time my husband was napping on the couch and I didn’t want to turn on enough light to see in case it woke him.

As a result, the only “legal” project for me to work on until either the seam on the Green & Cream quilt is finished or I finish quilting the Crossword Puzzle quilt is one of my August UFOs.

This is a project my mom started before we knew she was sick the first time.  My plan when I packed up this UFO (and the 3 others she left) was to finish them.  This baby quilt will go to one of her next great-grandbabies.

Working on the quilt last night I discovered that mom’s 1/4″ seam was off — by at least an 1/8″.  I could take all the stitching out and re-stitch it, but then it would be my quilt, not one from my mom and me.  So, I made an executive decision — instead of the 4-patches finishing at 3″, they would finish at 2 1/2″.  I just wish I made that decision before I made the HST and cut the rest of the quilt out.  This afternoon I trimmed everything to finish at 2 1/2″ and pieced the center together.

The center of the quilt 4 1/2″ smaller than it was originally designed, and the borders need to be narrower as well. I think I’m going to put on a 3 to 4″ border of the orange floral fabric and then possibly bind it in the green.  Time will tell.

Now to decide what to do about the Crossword Puzzle quilt — attempt to fix the backing or quilt it on the longarm.  Either way requires thinking.