Tutti Frutti and other Stuff

Wow, almost a month since my last post.  But, I've been busy, for the past month, stitching slowly, ever so slowly it seems, on a quilt top from a book entitled "Jelly Roll Quilts in a Weekend" by Pam and Nicky Lintott.  Well, obviously they've never encountered the snail's pace of my piecing!  Maybe the fact that I started with fat-eighths and stash scraps instead of a pretty jelly roll ... whatever!

So, here's the completed top, which for lack of originality on my part I'm calling by the same name as the book pattern, Tutti Frutti.

First off, I will say I made my top larger than the pattern which would have made the top 48x64 inches.  I added an additional row of blocks plus a border, bringing this top to 74x74 inches, a nice bed or large throw size quilt. This is the last of the tops I'm planning on piecing for this year's church camp benefit auction.  It seemed to take F.O.R.E.V.E.R. though!  This was also pieced on my faithful Featherweight at the dining room table, as my back issues continue.   At this point, I've seen two chiropractors and my primary care doctor, and had x-rays, which ruled out a compression fracture but won't show if there is a herniated disc, which I suspect is part of the underlying issue.  The sciatic nerve pain has calmed somewhat, though impending rainy weather brings it back with a fury.  The lower back pain is pretty much constant.  But enough of that, this is a quilting blog!

A couple close-ups of these bright and cheerful blocks:

Most of the fabrics used in the blocks are either from a donated fat-eighth bundle or scraps from my stash.  I'm hoping to piece a simple back tomorrow from some donated coordinating yardage, and cut the binding strips.

In other news, I recently entered a giveaway held by Julie of JulieKQuilts, and Saturday morning the mail truck placed a little box on the back porch containing this sweet bundle of goodies:

I've long thought of making a double wedding quilt, at least a small one, and the book she included has some excellent examples of various settings and complete instructions for piecing these blocks. Thank you so much Julie!

Later this month I'll be celebrating my 6th blogaversary, and that day is coincidentally also my birthday, so who knows what my next post will hold.  One thing I can assure you, it won't be another finished flimsy!