Cheese and Crackers

I meant to post this earlier but got busy and forgot. :-(

I finished the interior of my Cheese and Crackers quilt. I had originally planned to add multiple borders to this (at least two and probably three), but I think I'm going to leave it just like this.

When I put the fabrics that I had planned for the border around this part, I felt like they just didn't work. I felt that I lost the design of the "cheese sticks" and I did not want that to happen. I could always look for alternate fabrics (I did check my stash and didn't find anything), but I really don't want to buy anything for this quilt. I already have the backing fabric set aside and now that I'm not including borders, I don't have to worry about whether or not it will fit. This is still a decent size, measuring just shy of 80" x 90".

Jack was looking at my border options and his suggestion was to leave it as is and use a brown binding which is what I was going to do anyway, but we don't have to tell him that. We'll just let him think he thought of it. :-)

Design Wall Monday

There was no sewing done this past week which means that I didn't add any more blocks to my Cheese and Crackers quilt. Even if I had time to sew, I wouldn't have done much to this project anyway because I decided that I needed to pull some more light fabrics. If I want this to be fairly large, I need to have more than just six or seven lights or it'll look too organized and I certainly don't want that. Here's what I found.

While pulling these, I did find a few more cheddar fabrics I can use, so that was a bonus. :-)

Of course in my search I also found yet another UFO that I had forgotten about. (Well I didn't really forget about it, I just put it out of my mind.) Anyway, I found this bag neatly tucked away in the back corner of a shelf. I remember working on this at least six or seven years ago and deciding that I wanted it bigger. I wasn't able to find enough of the fabric to make the blocks I wanted, so I put the top in this bag along with the extra fabric that I had. (Maybe I was hoping that the needed fabric would just magically appear in the bag.) I even went so far as to add some fabric that I thought could be used for borders. (I don't know what was up with that. It must have been a weak moment of trying to get organized. :-) 

Here's the top at the point that I stopped and put it away. Don't look too closely. I guess I was having some trouble matching the interesecting points. Could it have been the fact that the sashing fabric sort of glows in the dark and I was blinded by the brightness. Yea, that's the story I'm going with! The pattern is from the book Super Simple Squares by Lynda Milligan and Nancy Smith. 

Here are the fabrics I pulled for borders and the order in which I think they'll be added. (Thanks Jerry for your input here!) That final green will be a piping added just before the purple binding.

 
Do you see my dad's picture in the top right corner? I feel like it's almost a "Where's Waldo?" thing with that. I like that he shows up in the pictures that I post because it makes me feel like I'm showing him my projects and that he's here to enjoy my quilting with me. I sure do miss him!

Anyway, here's what else is on the design wall (sort of).

While cleaning out a drawer, I found these pieces of clothesline that were the leftovers from some bowls that I made a while back. I decided to get my book out and use up these pieces. I just have to decide what to make. I'm kind of leaning towards a purse.

Now don't laugh, but I think it's pretty dangerous for me to try and clean or organize my sewing area. I end up with way too many things that I want to do and I don't know where to start. I guess I just have to pace myself, which is really not one of my strong points.

Check out what other quilters have on their design walls today.

Go to Judy L's Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday

I got up early this morning, took the picture of my design wall, did some work for Wednesday's Bras for a Cause and then sat down to type out this post. I went to download the picture and couldn't find the cord to go between the camera and laptop. I searched for a while and then the phone rang. Well, about a dozen calls and lunch later, I remembered where I put the cord. So, here's the picture finally.

A couple of months ago, I spent some time checking my stash for some cheddar fabric because I love it decided to make something with it. I started pulling all that I had and then played around with how I wanted to use it. I couldn't think of a better way to use it than in something simple like rail fence blocks. I've been making these blocks as leaders and enders for a while and this is only a handfull of what I have. I cut some of the background blocks last night and put this up on the wall because I'm excited to start working on this in earnest. The blocks will finish 4.5", even though I really thought about making them finish 3." I know I want this to be pretty big, and even though I love these fabrics, I'm afraid something would come up that really needed done or that I'd get bored and this would end up being a UFO.  

I really want to call this Cheese and Crackers. Do you understand why? I told a couple of people the proposed name and they didn't get it or think it was fun. I had to explain the logic (cheddar-colored fabric - the cheese- and the background fabric looks like it has wheat sprigs on it, thus the crackers. What do you think? 

The quilts that I had posted on last week's design wall and the previous week's design wall Mondays are all ready for quilting. YEAH!!! I'm hoping to get those done before Christmas. Keep your fingers crossed! I'll keep you posted.

Thanks to everyone who played along with the giveaways the past three weeks. I had lots of fun with it. Keep checking back because I'm already getting things together for a Thanksgiving giveaway!

Check out what other quilters have on their design walls together. Go to Judy L's Patchwork Times.