I’m making progress, even if it’s a bit invisible.

The top 15 blocks are all quilted. One more still to make…
Behind the scenes, while I show you the blocks that come in or the blocks I make for this quilt, I’m busily quilting. One of the joys and benefits of the QAYG (quilt as you go) method is that I don’t have to wait till I have all the blocks, then sew them together, assemble the quilt sandwich, laboriously quilt the huge thing and finally bind it all. This way, I can quilt each block individually and in no particular order, and wait till the last moment to quilt the last block and decide on the layout. I’m half done already! The blocks are not arranged in their final layout, but I do like all the moon/mountain blocks running down the centre, so that may stay.
Today I received the last two blocks on their way to me. This one is by Jenny of The Lilac Cat, and is a beautiful, peaceful scene of mountains rolling into the distance. I love the fabrics she’s used: the big circles in the sky, like clouds, and the scattering of tiny flowers on the ‘grass’ in the foreground. Just lovely!
And this one is Nanette’s third contribution, which she says “calls itself River Dreaming”. In the note that came with it, she says “I wanted to portray the mountain and river being connected and interdependent…. I wanted the look of a silhouette; at certain times of day, the mountain looks like a cardboard cutout against the sky…”. Beautiful work once again, Nanette. If you click on the link, it’ll take you to her blog post about making all three of her mountain blocks, and some of the photos will blow you away!
I must still make the teal ribbon block for the centre of the bottom row. It’s one I make every time, for every quilt, and I have my template and the process down pat. I was going to try something different this time, but I think I’ll leave that for another time, when I have time for more experimental construction. There’s still a fair bit to do; just the cutting of the joining strips can take hours, and the assembly is no picnic, but once all the blocks are in and quilted, the layout will click into place and I can just plug along methodically.
Soon, I’ll be in a position to tell you about the next project. It’s not one of our scheduled Ovarian Cancer jobs, but I need to get it ready in a big hurry for an event where they’re going to auction it. Originally I was going to do this one myself, but I’m going to need your help. There’s basic piecing, there’s fairly tricky paper piecing, there could be some appliqué, and there’s a central section I’ll be working on myself. Oh, and if anyone has a sewing machine that can do embroidered letters, and you’re willing to help, can you let me know? I need a small fabric banner with some lettering on it for the quilt design and if I can’t source some help for the embroidery, I’ll have to do it by hand, which will take time I don’t have 😦
Time to sandwich some more of your blocks. I enjoy this bit, even if it does give me sticky fingers!