I was going to work on this one a little and then load another quilt on the longarm but I decided to just keep working and get it DONE!

This HST Diamond top was made for our HeartStrings Precut Challenge for September – this month’s challenge was fat quarters and you can find some project notes on my website at this link.

I got the second Strippie cut and pieced this afternoon thanks to the storms passing us by. I pinned it up on the design wall after piecing the smaller strips – while it’s not a directional fabric, depending on where the cuts occur some sections do seem to have an up side!

I now have 3 of these to practice on when the new longarm arrives.

I won’t sew over the weekend since Keith heads out again on Monday – his travel schedule has been very hectic – but I’ll work on the shell afghan after he goes to bed and next week, I’ve got some binding to do.

The other day I mentioned I was going to piece a couple more Quick Strippies so I could use them for practice when the new longarm gets here and I pulled a couple “kits”. While I have a bin that I toss my novelty prints in, every now and then I go ahead and pull the coordinating fabrics from stash and put them all together so I can grab one and go. I decided I’d make these two.

I started with the animal print – it’s not directional but with such a large motif I wanted to decide ahead of time which way was up so I lined it all up on my design wall after I got the smaller strips sewn together.

And just like that, the top is done!

I also got the last Maine Happy Block top loaded on the longarm. If I feel energetic enough tonight I’ll get that started, if not I’ll work on it tomorrow.

The little bow tie top is assembled but not with out help from my seam ripper! I almost walked away but didn’t and I picked out 3 seams so I could flip a section around. In spite of some problems with the assembly, I really liked making these blocks and I’m looking forward to using these dies again!

The lighting for the photo is terrible but that’s as good as it gets at midnight in my sewing room!

No borders on this one either … you might have noticed, I make a lot of quilts without borders both because I’m recreating vintage quilts that don’t have them a lot of times but also just because I like quilts without borders!

The 9 patch and Heart top is assembled – you knew the first thing I’d work on was finishing this one up so I could start a new project right?!

I also pulled the next top to be quilted – I decided on this 16 Patch UFO and when I went to look for fabric for a backing I found a green one already pieced in the backing cabinet. I have no idea which quilt I pieced it for but it’s the right size for this one so I’m going to use it. Most of the time when I piece a back for a specific quilt I hang it with that top in the closet so finding this one is unexpected.

I tell you, this thyroid cancer has really messed with my memory among other things. Sometimes I wonder if I’m ever going get back to normal again.

I’ve mentioned before how much I dislike sashing quilts but I do it when it’s necessary and I loved the wide sashing on my vintage inspiration quilt so I knew this one would get sashing from the beginning. By the way, those two corner blocks are darker but it’s the lighting that makes them look so much darker than the other blues in the quilt.

I’m very happy with this one! I was also happy that I was able to measure and pin the borders on my “big board” rather than crawling around on the floor.