It began when I gathered supplies for SECU Family House Sew Day September 2025. I like to take an extra project in case I finish up early. I used the Design Floor to plan this layout:
Then it became one of my retreat projects in October 2025
I got the bits assembled into rows, but discovered that I had more blue strips and the quilt was smaller than I would have preferred...
So...
My quilting friends came to the rescue, as a number of them had green scraps which they were kind enough to donate to the cause. The extra rows made a big difference:
Special thanks to Britt, Kristen, Stacy, Marianne and anyone else who contributed!
The resulting row sat for quite some time before I managed to give them a bit of machine time. The paired rows found themselves waiting by the machine for MONTHS waiting to be assembled into a top:
Finally, at the end of BLUE month for the 2026 Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I assembled the top and it was ready for quilting:
If you're in the Quilters Knitting group on Ravelry you may have already seen it, but here's the story of my Blue and GREEN Retreat Quilt...
I feel really good about the fact that this quilt top only waited a few months for quilting. I even had a scrap of backing fabric in my stash:
Special thanks to Britt for making time for me to quilt it on her machine:
I feel SEW lucky to have such a good friend!!
Since I wanted it done fast, I went for a large meander for the quilting:
With the quilting done, that only left the trimming and binding!!!
Here it is all squared up:
Next came the binding adventure...
Options One and Two:
Options Three and Four:
Option Five, tested along the left edge, was the ultimate winner since I had originally hoped that there were enough bright green scraps for the entire project. Lime binding? Just right:
There was only a single 1" strip from the selvage remaining once I had enough cut for the circumference of the quilt. Here I am applying the binding to the back of the quilt...
Where's the adventure in that, Joyful???
Well, just look how far that "perfect" binding took me:
That gap is where the real adventure came in. Finding a matching shade of green was like searching for a needle in a haystack. After searching the GREEN Quilted Scrap Basket, I found one that worked:
Soon enough the problem was resolved...
Late this afternoon, as the sky was beginning to darken, I finished sewing down that binding. Here is the completed quilt in my traditional porch swing photo:
I'm SEW glad to get this finished in a somewhat timely fashion. It was completely made of scraps. I believe the stack of blue strips were leftovers from one of Francine projects. The green squares from my scrap basket. If YOU contributed to my scrap stash, THANK YOU!
I might not have completed this quilt without the UFO Challenge hosted by my Bee. Thanks, Maggie, for suggesting we play the UFO Number Game and to Britt for taking the lead. This is also my 2nd finish for the Winter 2026 session of the UFO Club on Ravelry. I couldn't be happier.
Until next time...
Mark another UFO off the list!!
Hurray for a finish and isn't it great to have friends who answer the call when extra scraps are needed. I finally finished two tops made from blocks done for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge in 2022. And now I've started working on a project I started at least 10 years ago. Feels good to move some of this stuff on its way.
ReplyDeletePat
That turned out great. Lime binding was perfect.
ReplyDeleteThat turned out great. Lime binding was perfect.
ReplyDelete