Another UFO bites the dust

I've been fighting off a strange virus for the last three weeks or so. It started out as just aches and groans - even my hair hurt! About the time I thought I was over that, I woke up with a scratchy throat which progressed to bronchitis. Phooie! And the weather here has been soooo nice! Just the last couple of days I've been feeling good enough to come out of the bedroom which has piled up with newspapers (for the news junkie in me) and quilting books (for inspiration), and lots of empty water bottles. Ahhhh, it's so nice to be back in my stewdio again, with the south facing windows and the sun pouring in. Today, I even have one of them cracked slightly open to enjoy the brisk breeze that is blowing.

I belong to an on-line friendship group (with Bonnie), and each year we participate in a "lotto block" drawing. At the beginning, one person sends a fat eighth to everyone participating, and on the last day of the month, she draws who will get those blocks. All the blocks are then sent to the lucky winner, and then *she* sends out the next round of fabric. Sometimes the fabrics are fabulous, other times, not my preference, but it's nice to work outside my range sometimes.

This quilt top was just finished with last year's (2004) lotto blocks. The colors in the photo aren't quite right, but close enough. The fabric was a Hoffman challenge from some years back, and not my cuppa tea at all! One of the best books I've gotten in recent times is Sharon Craig's Seven Fabulous Settings. It's sort of a re-write of her earlier book, but much easier to understand. I chose to use the Two for One setting since my blocks weren't all quite the same size, and I had an uneven number of them. I also wanted to downplay the focus fabric, too.

I chose a muted tiny floral Hoffman for the background, and a soft green fossil fern to frame the blocks. I also used a purple fossil fern for the central star piecing and the cornerstones. Now, a new rule I have this year is to use my stash fabric for exchanged blocks and blocks that have been languishing my "to do" bin. And the other new rule is that I must use ALL the fabric up that I pull out for the project. This means that the backing on this quilt will be pieced with the odds and ends of all the leftover fabric. And THEN if I have any left, I will make a couple of pillowcases to go with the quilt. I don't ever plan for a pillowroll on the quilts, so this is always nice to have when I change out the quilt on the bed - to have matching cases that don't conflict with the quilt!

This quilt will be my mother's Christmas present this year. It turned out a bit bigger than planned at 88" square, but I know she'll use it anyway!