TGIFF August 21, 2026: Scrappy Celebrations Pieced Backing + My ETERNAL HOME RENOVATIONS!

Hello, and welcome to TGIFF "Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday."  As I begin writing this post on Thursday evening, it is already two minutes past the deadline by which I was supposed to have published the post and forwarded the link along to Laura.  Those of you who know me will not be surprised that I am down to the wire... again!  If you are unfamiliar with the TGIFF linky party, click here to learn more about it.

So let's get on with it!  I'll kick off with my underwhelming sewing related finish: After completing my Scrappy Celebrations quilt top on July 29th, I finally got around to piecing a backing for this quilt using stash yardage and leftover backing scraps from other quilts.  Here you see my final step of checking that the backing is indeed big enough for the margins I need when I load it on my long arm frame.  Measuring is all well and good, but sometimes rulers lie -- my eyes can tell me immediately if I've goofed when I lay the quilt top right on top of my backing and check how much backing sticks out all the way around the quilt top.

Yes, My Backing Is Big Enough to Load On My Long Arm Machine

Here you can see the pieced backing itself, oriented sideways as I'm planning to load this quilt sideways and quilt it with a non-directional design:

Pieced Backing Turned Sideways

The gray and pink floral is a JoAnn's print that I picked up on sale years ago when I got my first long arm machine, and I was going to use it for quilting practice before I realized that solids make for better practice fabrics as you want to be able to see your mistakes in order to improve.  I just ripped off a long enough piece of that yardage, then snipped and ripped it in half near the center bolt fold line, and inserted an 18" wide combination of Kaffe Fassett circles and a bubblegum pink Tula Pink print.  Those fabrics already had been ripped on grain and seamed together because it was leftover from another quilt backing, and it was just enough to widen the JoAnn print to fit my quilt with margins for pinning to the leaders and attaching to the side clamps.  All pressed and ready to load!  My next task will be figuring out which batting to use, cutting that to size, and actually getting this quilt loaded and quilted.  Let's be honest with each other: my original plan was to have this quilt actually quilted and not just be showing you that I made the backing today, but this is the Real Life Happens edition of TGIFF.  I've been distracted by other things finally finishing -- THANK GOODNESS! -- with my house this week.  

Stonefields Blocks 30-32: " Cara's Surprise"

Well, this wasn't my goal for last week (nope, didn't piece that backing yet), but I finished the next three applique blocks for my Stonefields sampler quilt.  This is a pattern by Susan Smith and the blocks finish at 6" square.

Stonefields Blocks 30-32: Cara's Surprise

So, after machine piecing the "plus" unit for the centers of these blocks, I cut circles out of them with a turning allowance, ran a gathering stitch around the outside edge, and preturned the seam allowances with the appropriate size Karen Kay Buckley Bigger Perfect Circles heat resistant template and a bit of Maryanne's Best Press liquid starch.  I used a little roll of painter's tape to secure the template before pulling up the gathering thread and ironing the seam allowances, to prevent the template from sliding.  I wanted that plus sign to be as centered as I could get it in those circles.

Painter's Tape Kept "Plus" Centered During Starch and Press

It turned out like this, a little wonky but in a way that charmed me for some reason, so I left it be:

"Plus" Distorted a Little During Pressing