Just In Time

I finished piecing the red bow tie quilt just in time--the backing fabric arrived from Fabric.com.  After languishing in the uncompleted project pile for years, the bow tie quilt is finally pieced!

 I did wash the backing fabric.  Shout's Color Catcher is a keeper--the whites in the fabric are still white.  Yes, there has been more than one laundry disaster at Thistle Manor.  AppleJack says:  "a man has to have a strong constitution and self esteem to wear the "pink" undergarments of shame."

Next on the quilting agenda--another unfinished quilt:  Jo Morton's Goose Tracks.  The Goose Tracks quilt is one of the Jo Morton Little Women Club #11 (2012) which I did not complete.  Famous last Betty words:  should not take long to set the blocks together.   

Today I will be taking a quilting break and doing yard and garden work!  Spring has returned and the weatherman says the day time temps for the next seven days will be in the 70's!  The birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees and the weeds and the aphids are calling my name.  Next Year here I come! 

Come Together

One hundred forty three red bow ties later, it is time to start joining these 5" blocks into a quilt!
I believe I hear the choir in the background singing Handel's Hallelujah.

I am envious (in a healthy way) of those quilters who have flannel walls to arrange their quilts.  At Thistle Manor, I use the floor.  It works pretty well until my consultant aka Miss Callie Mae walks through and rearranges.

The rotary cutter, cutting board and templates are looking forward to a few days off while I join the blocks together and turn those bow ties into a flimsy quilt.

And . . .there is a teeny tiny dent in my red fabric stash.

Motivation and the Red Bow Tie Quilt

Saturday, March 16 was International Quilting Day.  I celebrated the day with a trip to my local quilt shop to pick up a couple of quilts from the long arm quilter.

This is my Flying Geese from Jo Morton Little Women Club #11.  Miss Callie Mae decided putting the quilt at the end of her day bed would be a good place for the quilt (just in case she got cold).

This is Pottery Shards also from Jo Morton's Little Women Club #11.  This is my favorite quilt from the series, the quilt is filled with reproduction fabrics.  One of the few quilts I have ever made which I give a thumbs up to the quality of my work.  This quilt is going to be so fun to use in the fall.

One of my best motivators is completing a project.  I feel a real sense of accomplishment when I finish anything especially a challenging project or one which has been in my stash for years an extended period of time.

Ahh, the red  bow ties.  Yes, they have been languishing in the unfinished project pile for years.  Gulp!



Finishing two of the Jo Morton Little Women Quilts, an opportunity to further reduce my stash, an opportunity to complete an unfinished project and finding this bow tie quilt on Pinterest was the motivation I needed.

The number of bow ties has grown from 19 to 77.  Whoo Hoo!  Another 66 bow ties to make and then  I start setting this sucker quilt together.  Whoo Hoo!  Mother Nature is still playing havoc with Spring and the late spring has meant an extended quilting season.