Slow Progress and a Completed Top

 It seems this year is starting off the same way last year ended, very very slowly as far as quilting progress goes.  However - I have a completed top to show you, a super scrappy whimsical children's donation top made during our quilt ministry meetings over the past couple months.

 It wasn't until I found the yellow and blue polka-dot fabrics in one of the bins at church that it seemed like the chaotic assortment of blocks could come together into a more or less cohesive whole.  The sashings add a note of bright spring-like cheeriness that this needed.  The individual blocks are made up of a few fairly modern fabrics along with a lot of older prints likely from the 1990s, and possibly earlier.

The last couple weeks I've spent cutting hundreds of wedge pieces and have begun piecing my version of Vintage Spin.  I've had this quilt on my to-make list ever since seeing Kathy Doughty's version in her book Adding Layers.  I've sewn together the wedges for the first three blocks.   This first one is my favorite so far.   I think lack of sharp contrast appeals to me more than the second block with the stark black/white.  We shall see how it all plays together, it may be that there will be some orphans among the pile of wedges.

The first three:

I followed Kathy Doughty's plan to utilize vintage or old-looking fabrics to put this version together.  Since both our ministry bins and my own stash are composed of a lot of older fabrics, I didn't have to haunt thrift shops looking for any more!  About half-way through the cutting process I began to wonder how this pattern might look composed of batiks, and may just try that option for a smaller second quilt.  I'm planning on waiting until all the wedge pairs are pieced before squaring up any of the blocks.  

The Janome is back from the repair shop, it turns out the problem wasn't in the machine itself, the dual feed foot was broken after all.  There is a tiny spring in the enclosed portion of the foot that had broken, so the foot needed to be replaced.  All in all, a much less expensive repair than I'd anticipated.  I've begun ditch quilting the seams on the Christmas top pieced at the end of December, and that will become next up in the evening hand quilting queue.

Our very odd winter weather continues, with little to no snow, and temperatures mostly in the 40s and even low 50s the past week or so, and next week our prediction is for more of the same.  Just hoping we don't get all our snow in March and April!

Til next time, happy stitching!