The "darling starlings" quilt top is done!




The finished quilt top.



A close- up of the center portion.



The darling starlings!
 

     I finally finished the flying geese quilt top, made from leftovers from a previous project.   I tried my hand at a different type of quilt, where all the blocks are not the same.  To make this work, I used a design board (created from flannel clipped to an old room divider which was tipped up against a basement wall) for the first time. 
   
      It turns out that the blocks don't permanently stick to the flannel - at night some blocks would fall to the floor, leaving me to guess where I had put them in the first place.   It turned out fine (and ended up smaller than it looked on the wall), but was quite a bit more work than I had anticipated putting it together, since the design wall is in  my basement, and my sewing machine is not. 

     When my husband saw the finished design, he said it didn't look like geese, which fly in straight lines, but rather, like starlings taking off.  Hence, the name the "darling starlings."    There is a little waviness in the setting blocks that I may have to fix, and then I will be putting it together soon.  I'll post a picture of the quilt when finished.

     In addition to finishing a new quilt top from old pieces, I also took apart an old quilt top: 

The old lumpy quilt top.

      This top just didn't lie flat.     The drunken path squares were fine; I had taken quite a bit of time and effort putting those together.  Unfortunately, I rushed sewing them together, and decided to undertake a redo. 







     We recently took a road trip to Williamsburg for a family wedding, and I used the hours in the car to undo the quilt top.   (Not while driving!)

Taking out the seams while navigating through Pennsylvania!

       By the end of the trip, the quilt was again in little pieces.  Here are the pieces, which I plan to square up, and more carefully and slowly sew back together.  At some point this year, this top (now over 5 years old) will become a quilt!




The undone quilt top!



     In the meantime,  I found about 2 dozen  6- inch squares from the same Exotic Garden fabric.  I have no recollection of what I had intended to do with these squares, or if they were leftovers from the drunken path blocks.   I am hooked on all the "modern quilting" blogs and so I have ordered up vast quantities of white Kona cotton, and will be attempting a "modern" quilt with these.  I can't wait!
 

 

The 6-inch squares of the Exotic Garden fabric.

Another close-up of these fabulous fabrics.

      I am also working on a few projects that are to be gifts, so I can't post the pictures yet.   Happy Mothers' Day to all!

Take care,
Gretchen