Cruisy last day of holiday

So how have I spent the last day of my summer holiday today?   I've taken a very cruisy approach to it.   A little (emphasis on little) household organisation, interspersed with a little reading, and a little quilting.  3 more blocks for the sampler...

There is a bunch of blocks that are orange.  I'm not sure how I'm going to go finding fabric for those...  I have plenty of orange hand dyes because I love muddling with red and yellow, I can think of only 2 orange print fabrics I've used in quilts. 

And some reds and neutrals for the border of Double Delight.  

These units are at a REALLY boring stage to sew so I am using them as leaders and enders.  This has somehow stopped me from having to focus on them and it makes them a much more manageable task.

Wish me luck for tomorrow.

Let's do the time warp - old and not so old projects

I've been doing a bit of a stock take. Overdue for new year perhaps?  I wasn't in time to sign up for Adrianne's Q1 Finish-Along, but these are the 3 projects I'd like to work on finishing during that time.

I've checked off the list of 6 inch sampler blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. The 2014 challenge that is. It seems I stopped after July's red blocks and didn'tmoved on to greens of the light and bright variety.  So I have a few blocks to catch up on.  Well 29 to be precise.  Except that now it's 26 because today I made these 3.  And the title of today's post came from the background fabric which I decided while playing with these today that  I LOVE.  It really is a time warp moment because it is and old print that I picked up at Fabric-a-brac last year.  I'd forgotten how much fun it is to make these little blocks.  They work up largely from scraps - and I mean little scraps like left over binding strips, charm squares, those little giveaway pieces of fabric you get in goodie bags at shows...  you don't need a fat quarter bundle of an entire fabric collection to put together some little squares. 

Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion.  The top is finished, and the backing is sewn together ready to go, so this "just" needs quilting.

And another mystery from Bonnie.  This one has been around for a few years.  I got stuck trying to find perfect border fabric and when everything seemed to look a bit flat I decided to piece one instead.  So  I am working on making a pieced red and white border for this, in the style of Andee at The Modern Diary

So I have some goals.  What fun!

A Madden Brothers Moment

... Otherwise known as... We are done 

It's a bit breezy here today and this is a big quilt so getting a good photo was trick but here is my version if Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion. 

Tinkering away with Grand Illusion

I am making progress. Many people seem to have finished already. I had a little set back when I discovered that I hadn't made enough sashing  blocks. Back to clue 3 and the green and neutrals for the afternoon to fix that oopsie. Here are the 2 rows together. 

Grand Illusion revealed

The mystery quilt was revealed on New Year's Day. I have the first row together and have been piecing more blocks today. I love this quilt design. Bonnie Hunter did a great job of this one. The pattern is available for a little while on her blog www.quiltville.blogspot.com