Bearly Making Progress On My Bear Paw, But I've Been Busy!

The month of March has flown by in a flurry of activity, and the month of April is looking just as busy.  Since my last post, I did manage to get the bear paw baby quilt top assembled with the sashing and sawtooth star blocks:

Quilt Top Assembled, Ready for Borders

Ignore those wrinkles -- the quilt top is flat and square, I promise -- I slapped it up on the design wall in a hurry because I had nowhere else to put it and I knew it would be coming right back down to get borders anyway. 

This most likely will NOT go to my friend's baby granddaughter after all.  That baby was born over a month ago, and no gift was promised or expected...  I have lots of work for a new design client right now, dress rehearsals every night next week for the VOX performances of Bach's St. John's Passion next weekend, travel planned over Spring break, as well as getting ready for my husband's heart surgery to repair a defective valve.  And I'm remembering that when I started making these bear paw blocks back in May of 2014, this was supposed to be a quilt just for ME...  Every other quilt I've made has been given away to someone else.  And yet, the blocks just sat on the shelf all this time, and it wasn't until I got it in my head to put them together for a baby gift that I got motivated to finally put them together.  With everything else going on in my life, I don't need to put additional pressure on myself by creating stressful deadlines for projects that are supposed to be for my own enjoyment and relaxation!  I'm going to take my time with this quilt, enjoy making every stitch that goes into it, and then probably give it to some baby girl who has yet to be conceived!  ;-)

So yes, I'm still hoping to get the borders on this quilt top soon, but then I'm going to fold it over a hanger in my closet next to the math quilt top that I whipped up in 2014 but never finished. 

Math Quilt, Also Waiting to be Quilted

Multitasker that I am, I doodled some ideas for quilting this one on my iPad last Sunday during the sermon:

"Taking Notes" During the Sermon.  (Cough, Cough)

The Math Is Beautiful quilt never got finished because I got bored with it and had no purpose in mind for it, but that means it's perfect for practicing new quilting techniques without fear of "ruining" it.  And then I'm finally going to put my Jingle quilt blocks together and hang that top in the closet:

Jingle Quilt In Progress, pattern by Erin Russek

The Jingle quilt didn't get finished for two reasons.  One, I got carried away with alternative setting ideas and couldn't make a decision about how to set my blocks.  And two, I discovered that one of my red batik fabrics that I used in every single block is a bleeder!  That made me reluctant to invest any more time in the project, knowing that there was a possibility that even with Retayne, Synthrapol, Color Catchers, and a heavy dose of prayer, I still might end up with a ruined quilt at the end of it all.  Again, this makes the Jingle quilt a perfect candidate for learning new quilting techniques, because if I learn something, it wasn't a waste after all.

And I'm going to work on making the remaining pineapple log cabin blocks for my California King bed that is so close to completion, yet SO ENORMOUS that I can't even contemplate trying to quilt it on my domestic machine:

Pineapple Log Cabin In Progress, Will Finish at 124" x 106"

So once assembled, into the closet THAT enormous quilt top will go, and I'll work on the remaining blocks for my version of the Moda Modern Building Blocks quilt that I started back in October for my son Anders:

My Version of Moda Modern Building Blocks, Adapted for XL Twin Bed

Where will that quilt top go when it's finished?  You guessed it -- straight into my closet, shamelessly unquilted!  And meanwhile, I'll be prepping applique blocks for hand stitching in Florida and while my husband is in the hospital next month, to get that Frankenwhiggish needle turned applique quilt closer to becoming a quilt top, too:

Possible Final Layout for my Frankenwhiggish Rose Applique Blocks

First Completed Frankenwhiggish Rose Block with YLI Silk Thread

Now, you may be wondering why I'm planning to finish all these quilt tops without quilting any of them, right?  Well, a quilting "assistant" by the name of Thoroughly Modern Millie may be joining me in my studio in the near future... 

Julie Andrews, the "model of efficiency" as Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)

Still working out the details on that, but I'm very excited about all the new possibilities that are opening up.  Stay tuned!

I'm linking up with:

·       Whoop Whoop Fridays at www.confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com

·       Off the Wall Friday at Creations: http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

·       Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday at http://thecarpentersdaughterwhoquilts.com/?p=1620

·       Finished Or Not Friday at http://busyhandsquilts.blogspot.com/

Have a great weekend, everyone!