Halloween quilt ready to donate,plus the next one in prgress

About a year ago I bought fabrics for this Halloween quilt-despite a lot of  effort and done over blocks, in the end it did not turn out as well as I had hoped.  The colors muddied too much , I ran out of the light purple, and I could not arrange the blocks quite how I truly envisioned
M however, loved it and thought we should display it this year.  As she is out of state and won't be back until sometime in November, I am overruling that suggestion and sending it off to wraptheminlove as another quilt towards my goal of 13 for this year.  I backed it with a leopard print flannel which had been meant for an entirely different project but that was years ago and I decided it worked great for this top.  I still have a lot of flannel stash to use up, this barely made a dent!

.  Next up was the final donation panel to cut apart and turn into blocks.  A good opportunity to share the process I use as I have taken photos twice so far of progress on it.
First is the first squares cut and arranged and second is the first round of sashing.
Sorry, they loaded in reverse order!  But you can see which is which!  My plan is to add a new fabric to sash all of the :"blocks" and get the entire top up to the 40 ish by 60 ish size it needs to be.  Backing is ready 
and batting as well.  It's going to be an extra busy and hopefully not too stressful work week ahead.

So I want to get as far as possible on this panel top tonight.  Then see how my energy level holds up after work each evening.  

another donation quilt finish

Today brought to completion another quilted ready to be sent off donation quilt for wraptheminlove-see sidebar for link.  I had bought two sets of "I Spy" squares many years ago.  Turns out one set was 6 inches cut and the other set 5 inches cut.  My challenge was to figure out a way to use them and make it all come out  close to 40 inches by 60 inches.  The finished quilt  came out 39 inches by 57 inches, close enough!  This quilt puts me to almost halfway to my goal for this year.  Meaning, this is quilt number 6 and I am aiming for 13.  I have the next quilt pinned ready for quilting in the morning.  

For much of today my FAB pal Norma was also working on a quilt top.  As luck would have it, we both completed our projects within minutes of each other!  We use skype to chat as we stitch along so it was easy to know each other's progress.  Added bonus, we are both in the same time zone.  

So here is the finished quilt:

I promised an updated photo of our yard...this is bark dust being blown in.  I hope the weather is not rainy when I have time to take photos of the end result after they were done and all was swept up!

Time to go curl up with a book and relax!  

Finished Sept. 2nd

I made the most of the US Labor Day holiday to get the last shown partially finished top done, quilted, and bound.  An extra day off really helps!  I put a lot of fun quilting into this donation quilt.
Some lucky child is going to really enjoy both reading it and snuggling under it.

The following weekend I left early Friday and drove up to the Sisters Folk Festival.  This was my third year going and each year I find new favorite singer/song writers to enjoy.  However, one of my favorites was there and I was at every show she did.  She never repeated any song nor story either- what a delight!
I am writing about  Cheryl Wheeler,  and if you ever get a chance to hear her, you will not be disappointed!  She is quite witty and funny and down to earth with a real gift for writing gorgeous songs.
So, since returning home I have been doing a lot of this and that but nothing very serious in the using a sewing machine or playing with fabric departments.  I did pick up my featherweight today from having a lovely cleaning and polishing spa experience.  My plan is to set her up in the living room and work on string blocks.
Of course, that means I need to iron the fabric sitting on the table waiting to be cut up first.  
I had to work late tonight, stop and gas up the car as it was running on fumes, and after getting home and doing all the things one must, like eat dinner etc, I realized I needed to get back into the car and go to the grocery store.  I did reward myself by including a visit to Baskin and Robbins ice cream shop.  That treat will wait until tomorrow night as it is far too late to be indulging in any more eating!  Before the couch claims me I decided I could fit one last thing in-you guessed it, do this post with a photo.

You will note more fun stuff is lurking behind the finished quilt on the design wall.  
That will be coming up soon on the playing list.
Ok..off to enjoy the couch, a bit of knitting and enjoy the finale of Master Chef.