Mission Impossible: All 48 Blocks WILL Be Completed Today!

I didn't crop my background clutter out of this shot because it gives you a better sense of scale:

38 Blocks On the Wall

Remember that annoying, migraine-inducing car trip song, "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall?" That's been going through my mind in reverse as I continue completing blocks and adding them to my design wall, counting up instead of counting down.  "38 flying geese blocks on the wall, 38 blocks on the wall..."

And they are looking COOL up there, aren't they?!  My mom finished the last of the outer, traditionally pieced seams yesterday afternoon, and the photo above was taken at about 6 PM, when she went home and Bernie and I went out for sushi.  (It would have taken more muscle than the two of us could muster to drag my mom to a sushi restaurant!)

When we got back from dinner, my husband answered the siren call of basketball on TV and I went back up to the studio, and was able to finish an additional four blocks before calling it a night, completing the 7th row:

42 Blocks On the Wall

Since I've already cut out all of my freezer paper templates and ironed them to the back of my purple fabric (also already cut out), block completion at this point consists of wetting the curved seam allowance with Best Press starch, turning it back over the freezer paper with the iron, positioning both block halves on my cutting mat to line them up for an accurate seam and a square 12 1/2" block. and then sewing that final invisible machine appliqué stitch.  That's only taking me 10-15 minutes per block once I get my groove going.  

Remaining Almost-Completed Blocks

(By the way, don't be grossed out by the crumpled Kleenex in the photo above.  I was using it to wipe excess glue from my fingers and from the glue tip, not to wipe my nose!)

My goal for this week was to finish half of the blocks for this quilt, but I'm confident that ALL of the blocks will be finished by the end of today, and I'll probably start joining them into rows today as well.

Meanwhile, after she ran out of curved seams to piece, my mom started a new project.  I dug my Accuquilt GO! Baby cutter out of the drawer and she has been cutting 4" tumblers out of my scrap bin and a couple of fat quarters from my stash.  She's going to piece a baby size outreach quilt top to keep me company while I continue working on Lars's quilt, and then I'll have another top to practice quilting on and donate to the guild's outreach program.  It's a win-win.  Actually it's a win-win-WIN, because she was having so much fun picking out fabrics and cutting them up with the die cutter!  Quilting is contagious...

I'm linking today's post with the following Linky Parties:

SUNDAY

·      Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework http://quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.com

MONDAY

·      Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com 

·      Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts http://www.cookingupquilts.com/

·      Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt http://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com/

·      Moving it Forward at Em’s Scrap Bag: http://emsscrapbag.blogspot.com.au/

·      BOMs Away at Katie Mae Quilts: https://www.katiemaequilts.com/blog/