G is for Glory Box – the sixth block of Dorothy Young’s alphabet block-of-the-month. If you wish to quilt along, join the group by clicking on the “Join Now!” button.

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Up on my design wall today are the Nifty Thrift blocks. After pondering it for a week, the quilt will have just 20 blocks in it.  I was asked last week how big the blocks are. They are 9″ with a 2″ sashing.  Since this picture was taken, I’ve assembled the top row of blocks and attached the missing sashing.

My goal for this week is to finish this top.  Stay tuned to see if I get it done. In the meantime check out what other’s have on their design walls over at Patchwork Times.

It’s been a while since I actually declared I would finish something at the beginning of the month and actually finished it.  Not that there haven’t been other finishes over the past 6 months.  This month I listed the Birthday Quilt, although I really wasn’t certain I would be able to finish it with everything else I wanted to also work on.  But the Birthday Quilt (and pillow case) is completed.

This is called the Birthday Quilt because I received the blue and white Pennsylvania blocks as part of a birthday swap with the Quilt In a Day Community On-line Forum back in 2009.  Wanting a larger quilt, I set the blocks on point and made the yellow and blue LeMoyne stars.  I finished the quilt top in August 2009.  Then it sat waiting for either a border – although I was pretty sure I didn’t want a border, or for quilting inspiration to strike.

This year for my 50th birthday I decided I was going to finish this quilt.  I scheduled time at Quilted Memories, and then panicked because I  only had half of the quilting figured out. Fortunately before I was scheduled to work on the quilt, I figured out the rest of the quilting.

The quilting took five hours and 5 1/2 pre-wound bobbins of Bottom Line.  The top thread is Omni Thread in Light Tan.  Since this was basically the first time I put this much quilting into a quilt I wanted thread to disappear, but yet at the same time I needed to be able to see it and not have it leap off the quilt in the blue and yellow.  I’m very pleased at how well the Light Tan worked.

The batting is Hobbs’ Tuscany 100% Bleached Cotton.  Something I’ve read said it will shrink 3% – 5%.  This quilt shrank about 5% as it measured 67 1/2″ x 81 3/4″ after binding and when I took it out of the dryer it measured 63″ x 77″.

The backing fabric was made from 2 100% cotton Better Homes and Garden tablecloths.

Finally, the binding.  As late as Friday night after the quilt was trimmed I had no idea what I was going to use for binding.  But when I opened my box of blue fabric and started digging, I found the perfect fabric.

It’s shades of blue, white and just a touch of yellow. I thought I would have a strip left over, but as it turns out there are only the triangles trimmed from making the binding. After attaching the binding to the quilt I had just enough binding left to go around two edges of the label.

I also made a matching pillowcase.  The body is from the backing and the blue is from one of the stars.

Well, there will be no hoarding of the favorite fabric.  I apparently miscalculated how many strips I needed and all I have left are the triangles trimmed from where I sewed the strips together. But that’s OK. Someday those scrap triangles will end up in a pineapple quilt.

Since I finished the quilt – and a pillowcase, I have fabric to report as used — all from stash.

Fabric Added Since Last Report: 0 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 122.087 yards

Fabric Used Since Last Report:  7.378 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 54.645 yards

Net Used for the year -67.442 yards

See how others are doing with their stash over at Patchwork Times.

I’m sure I’m not the only person who hoards hides hangs on to a favorite fabric.  This is one of mine.  It’s Garden Glory by Debbie Caffery for Northcott.  I first bought a FQ the summer of the Iowa road trip.  I think that was in 2004.

That summer I was collecting blue fabrics for a blue quilt I was doing to make for my husband. This was one of many fabrics gathered that year.  Since I only needed a 6 x 12 piece of each fabric for the Blue Applecore, I had lots of fabric left over.  The following summer I made THIS quilt from my blues.  When I got to the borders I decided the perfect fabric would be the fabric pictured above.

There was just one problem.

My FQ did not have the identifying information on it.  That Iowa trip — 10 or 12 quilt shops in 3 days — not to mention prior to that I had been in multiple quilt shops before and after the road trip.  Canvasing my two favorite fabric search engines FabShopHop and Quiltshop.com didn’t turn up the fabric. Finally I sent an e-mail to the Fab Shop Hop network and The Virginia Quilter responded that they knew what the fabric was and sent me a link to order what I needed — or maybe I took all they had at this point I can’t remember.

A few months later I spied some at Quilters Haven  (probably where I bought the first FQ) and bought the rest of the bolt (about 2 or 3 yards) even though I didn’t have any plans for it.  Since then I’ve used it several times first in a matching baby quilt and then carefully in a block here or there, including in the Birthday Quilt.

So, when I started digging in my box of blue fabrics looking for something for the binding of the Birthday Quilt I knew I had found the right fabric — if I had enough.

I do.  The piece left measures 31 x 28  — which should leave me with a 3″ strip of fabric 31″ long.  Hum… may be instead of a pillowcase with a blue cuff and yellow accent, I’ll go the other way and make a yellow cuff and use the remaining blue strip as the accent.

Then again, I may just hoard it.

Five hours and nearly six pre-wound  bobbins later I have finished the quilting on the Birthday Quilt.  Now to decide on a binding. This could be tough.

I swung by the library to pick up a couple of books and while I was there, I picked up two books on CD.  Earlier in the evening, I opened up one of the books and couldn’t get past the first two or three paragraphs.  I think it was a sign that I needed to get back to the sewing machine.  So, I popped in the first disc of The Bone Box by Bob Hostetler and resumed working on Nifty Thrifty.

The missing 5 blocks are done, but the red cornerstones are turned wrong on 4 of the blocks.  The 5th block is missing the sashing.  Looking at the picture now, I see why I was having issues on where the long strips were supposed to go.  I’m missing outer sashing on the right and bottom — but before I can do that, I need to figure out the border arrangement.  I also need to decide if I need to make another 10 blocks.

My young quilting friend has spent the last few days with us.  She’s made significant progress on her latest quilt. I have no idea if this is the order the blocks will be in when the top is complete or not.  She said something about alternating the black and green strips, but as I look at it this morning that appears to be forgotten.

My own quilting/piecing seems to be stalled.  This happens periodically – usually after a push to complete several quilts or believe it or not after a quilting retreat.  Instead of quilting I end up reading.  In fact this past weekend, I finished reading Dan Brown’s Inferno, James Rollins’s The Judas Strain & Sandstorm, plus three of Susan Enoch’s romances – Lady Rogue, Reforming a Rake and The Care and Taming of a Rogue.

I’ve finally found a spot for the batting I bought the other day, so perhaps now that I’m not constantly running into that box I’ll be able to get back to sewing machine – or sit a the treadle.  In the meantime for more inspiration, I’ll check out what others are working on by following the links over at Patchwork Times.

This is the week I get to count the fabric I picked  retreat weekend.  All I have to counter it is the three zipper bags I’ve made.  Hopefully next week I’ll have a backing and binding to count.  And who knows, I might finally get into the sewing machine and finish a top.

Fabric Added Since Last Report: 5.468 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 122.087 yards

Fabric Used (or left the stash) Since Last Report:  1.3121 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 47.267 yards

Net Used for the year -74.082 yards

See how others are doing with their stash over at Patchwork Times.

After a quilt retreat I’m slow to get back into the swing of things.  Could it be the late night chatting that takes place or the full speed ahead piecing?  Anyway, I think I’ve just about got everything put away — at least the bags are empty and stashed away between the sewing table and wall.

But I did get a bit of stitching done this week. First up are two more zipper bags.  They really are easy to make.  When I was at Jo-Ann’s this week looking for a “figure 8” key ring to use for a zipper pull, I eyed the fusible fleece considering more. They didn’t have the key ring — we finally found them at Hobby Lobby.

The second thing I’ve worked on is the Birthday Quilt.  This evening I carefully loaded it on the machine and started quilting where I left off after in the middle of the first pass.  Three hours later I still have another 1 1/2 – 2 hours to go.  And I have no idea how many bobbins I’ve used.  I’ll have to count.

There is a whole lot more quilting in this quilt than anything else I’ve ever quilted (which explains the numerous bobbins).  I have one more column of Pennsylvania blocks and a column of star blocks and the setting triangles to go. Here’s a picture of the quilting in the Pennsylvania block. If you click on the picture it will enlarge.

I still need to work on the outlining of the blocks.  Well, all of the quilting.  But it has been a while since I quilted anything. And since this batting is 100% cotton, I’m hoping shrinkage will occur and hide the bad stuff.