Design Wall Monday

I needed to find something rather mindless on which to work today so I chose my oldest UFO. I'm not excited about why I need to work on something mindless (Mom's in the hospital and we haven't gotten very good news), but I am excited about working on this quilt. It's technically not on my design wall, but since that's what I'm working on I'm posting about it today. I did put it up on the wall to get a picture but it's too big to fit properly so you you can't see the entire quilt, but you get the idea. This is a paper pieced pineapple block and was my first attempt at paper piecing. It's definitely not perfect, but I like it anyway.

This top had been done for a very long time (at least 7-8 years) and I had entertained the idea of hand-quilting it, but after it sat for so long, I knew that wouldn't be happening anytime soon so I had my friend Rachel quilt it for me. Now, she did that way back in August and I just never bound it. Well, last night I decided that I was going to get this quilt DONE, DONE, and DONE (pieced, quilted and bound). I pulled out the binding that I had made way back when and started attaching it to the quilt. Guess what happened? Can you see it in this picture?

Yep, I ran out of binding fabric! After a bit of panic, I remembered seeing some leftover fabric from this project when I was looking for fabric for my Honor Flight quilts, so the hunt was on. I went to the basement and found the tub with patriotic fabrics and sure enough, I had one extra strip of binding fabric cut to the correct size. I don't know why I didn't piece it in with the other strips, but I didn't. I'm guessing that I had intended to, but this lone strip was folded up in the leftover blue star fabric and I just didn't see it. Whatever happened doesn't matter, I'm just thrilled that I found the extra strip. It is now reunited with it's long-lost binding buddies, machine stitched to the quilt and ready to be hand-stitched down.

This is a big quilt, about 100" x 100", but I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get this stitched down by the end of today. We're playing the waiting game with doctors to hear news about Mom and I don't do well with just sitting around so I think my nervous energy will help me gete this done. I've also pulled out my hexagons and they're ready to travel to Dayton with me when needed. Anyway, I'll let you know when the quilt is DONE, DONE and DONE.

On another note, as part of my blogtoberfest participation, I'm hosting the first of three weekly giveaways. This is what's up for grabs this week.

This charm pack, by Sandy Gervais for Moda is called Giddy and it's just beautiful. There are 42 - 5" squares in this pack and I just love them all. As a matter of fact, I used it in my Framed! quilt which I posted about here, along with a couple other versions of the same quilt. And speaking of Framed!, the winner of this week's giveaway will also receive a copy of that pattern. Here is a picture of the pattern cover and back. It's difficult to see, but there are five (5) size options and fabric requirements listed. The instructions also include an alternate border option.

 All you have to do is leave a comment on this post by Wednesday and I'll randomly pick a winner. You can earn another chance by posting about this giveaway on your blog (and link to this page), and post a second comment here. A third chance can be earned by becoming a follower of this blog, and posting again that you are a follower. (If you are already a follower, just leave a post stating so.)

Be sure to check back next week to see what is being given away then.

Check out Patchwork Times to see what other quilters have on their design wall today. You just might find your next project!