So How Long Did That Quilt Take to Make?

I'm always fascinated when someone asks me how long a quilt or stitching project took to complete. I don't keep track of how long something takes -- although sometimes I have a pretty good idea if I made the quilt without switching to other projects or letting it become a UFO for a time. And, for the most part, I don't want to know how much time I spent on a quilt!

On Monday I started to gather up the fabrics and scraps for the pink, green and black "Round the Twist" Alex Anderson design (that I'm going to call "Twist and Shout"). (I showed it in an earlier post, but am including it here so you don't have to look for it.)

I realized that I had a lot of 2-inch strips and squares, plus plenty of partial fat quarters left over. Why not use them in a smaller quilt that could either accompany "Twist and Shout" when I give it to some lucky recipient, or save the smaller quilt for the next baby-girl quilt I need.

I decided one of Carrie Nelson's Schnibbles would be a good option -- and eventually settled on "Plan C", which uses 2-inch squares and strips. It is in her book called "Schnibbles Times Two". Although Carrie's pattern was designed for charm squares, I could just use what I had already pre-cut, plus cut some additional pieces as needed.

Here is the result -- which is about 32 inches square.

The funny thing is that it took LONGER to make the small quilt than it took to make the larger twin-sized quilt. Not a lot longer, but still I expected it to work up more quickly than it did. (It took about "a day" -- or rather one late night sewing and the better part of yesterday.)

Then there's my mom's flannel log cabin. What started out as a 20-block quilt (4 X 5) is now a 49-block quilt. Yep, it is now a king-sized quilt that is 98 inches by 98 inches. We laid it out on her bed and it’s going to look great. (This photo was taken before one more row was added at the right, which will be at the bottom of the bed. The stars will be centered on the bed.)

Now the problem is that we bought enough backing for a quilt that is 84 inches by 98 inches – and it just won’t “stretch” for the extra 7 14-inch blocks we added to the bottom. I thought I’d found an extra 3 yards (which is what it would take), but just got e-mail from the shop I ordered it from that indicated they really didn’t have the fabric in stock. I’m going to keep looking, but will probably end up having to piece something else into the backing.

I can’t believe it’s Wednesday already – not to mention the first day of June! This year is nearly half over! Have a great rest of the week.