I have a quilt top done

It's a special day at our house

I need to get rid of fabric, so I decided to use up the rest of a layer cake I had.  I thought I had enough to make an Atkinson Design pattern up, but I didn't so I had to think fast.  I'm not always good at that.

I made three strips like this one.....

and had this brilliant plan to just add four strips --

2 in between the 3 sets and

then two on each side.


Not being the mathematician our son is, and working with my head which wasn't functioning properly

43 + 12 = does not equal 72!!  What I was thinking I have no idea.

I did get the two middle strips out of what I had but now I couldn't go on with the two sides.

I also noticed that one set wasn't sitting properly, so I knew that was coming out.

I went up to the local store and searched for a good 3/4 of an hour for the right fabric that complimented both the sets and the sashings that were already there.

I had 5 fabrics out and started to eliminate.  I actually eliminated my final choice and went back to it.......twice!

When you do that you know that's the one.

This is it.  It took me two days of sewing and one day of cutting.

The sets are cut 2 1/2" x 8 1/2" and are two colour and a cream, and then two colours and a cream.  How you start your row is up to you.  It is supposed to be scrappy and it is supposed to help you use up your stash.  It is not designed to have you go out and buy more fabric, although I'm sure the stores don't mind if you do.

The insert strips were cut 5 1/2" and measured out to the 72" length.  The outside strips were cut 6 1/2" x 72"

It is long.  72" long in fact, but it's a donation quilt and who knows how tall the person will be that gets it.  It is about 46" wide so I will have to do an inset in the back.  Perhaps I'll use up more scraps.

You could do this quilt any length you want.  It is adaptable and yes I give you permission to use this and you can even sell the quilt after if you want.  You don't even need to mention my name.  

This was a short blog today, so I'm going to say a little something about our shipment of quilts to Fort McMurray.

Someone promised us they would give us boxes and I spoke to the people three times about them and they never appeared.  

This same person said he would ship them out.

I wrote to him and told him I had 27 quilts ready to go.

The email went unanswered.

After waiting for two weeks, I told Karl he had bailed on us.

We finalized the packing and headed up to our local FedEx store one Monday morning.

The young lady behind the counter took everything in stride until she asked me the value of the shipment.  I told her $25,000 and I think she nearly fainted.  I wasn't joking.....well, okay a bit.

They left that store at 6:01 PM and started their journey to Slave Lake, Alberta.

On Thursday morning, just before noon, FedEx arrived at Linda's store, Patchwork Fabrics, with 3 cartons containing 

27 quilts

1 toy Westjet airplane

10 boxes of crayons

10 coloring books

9 containers of Play-doh

I have absolutely nothing but praise for FedEx and I will use them again and again.

I was told seeing as I was using ground they wouldn't arrive until the following Monday, but they moved those boxes at record speed and got our contribution to Alberta in 3 days.

Thanks FedEx.  You are number one in my book.

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