Yippee - Skippee!

I am thrilled to say that Orca Bay (Quiltville Mystery Quilt from November/December) is a complete top and put up -- waiting for a trip to Chicago to quilt it.

There are lots of pieces and I'm glad to have the top done.  I don't love it -- but I do like it.  I've mentioned before that I'm tickled to have been able to use only precut scraps or strings for all but the black (not enough scraps) and the white borders.  In the end, there were too many strings for my personal preference. I love the way they look -- but I am not a big fan of "bumps" and where the strings come together -- there are definitely bumps.  I prefer to press seams open these days and that's just not possible in some places with this quilt.

I am pleased that the instructions included pieces for the border so that was done (altho I did put the hourglass block in differently than the instructions -- seems less intrusive to me).  The border went on effortlessly.  When it's not included in the initial cutting/sewing, I'm usually so tired of the quilt that I just don't do it.  So, thank you, Bonnie for slipping the border in!

The pictures are not great -- it's a tad windy here but I wanted to get it in the closet so I could start to focus on something else.  It's so freeing to finish a top and then wonder what to do next.  So -- the "next" for me (at least for the moment) is to sort through my 2" strips, cut the ones I'm not overly fond of down to 13" and make some Scrappy Trip Around the World from the Quiltville site.  This will make a fine charity quilt if I decide to keep working on it...and if I don't, I don't have a lot invested in it as far as favorite fabrics or cutting time.  I just needed to sew and listen to the football game (tennis was pre-empted, alas).  If I keep up the Scrappy TATW, I'll get some on the design wall for a later post.

I hope you are enjoying the satisfaction of a finish or the joy of just sewing to sew!  Jan