Dual duty

 

I had this quilt top (53" x 55") hanging in the closet since early fall.  It is a variation (as most of my quilts are) of Jen Kingwell's Green Tea and Sweet Beans pattern.  I got tired of working on it over the summer, so set it aside until fall when I added the striped Australian fabric as the border.   All of the appliqued blocks are wool applique which I hope will not run when washed.  I like the quilt's cheerfulness.

During March, I made a block a day of Pat Sloan's quarter log cabin blocks.  Of course, I had to catch up some when we went on vacation for a week, but that was OK.   I used my basket of strings for most of the blocks, and used the plain mottled black for all the centers.  

Strings weren't the best choice as the seams don't match up.  Other people posted photos of quilts they made with fabric they had bought for the project, and they really looked nice.  Nonetheless, my top turned out cheery but not enough to be anything but the back of the Green Beans quilt.  Hence, the name Dual Duty.  

I plan to wash the quilt first and then, perhaps, give it to Bags of Love for foster kids.  Now that it's quilted, I do like a bit more.  I chose most of the strings at random, based on their length.  I ran out of longer pieces, so I used some leftover binding pieces as well.  

My strings have all been sorted by color and put into bags in my string basket.  I plan to see how they work out for my next Dear Jane row.  I have neglected that quilt for months and would like to get back to it.   But it's a very satisfying feeling to have no quilts hanging in the closet, waiting to be quilted.  It won't last - I have several blocks of the month that will no doubt be finished this summer.  

This leaves me with hand sewing the binding down on the Exploding Heart.  That will take a while because I have quite a few meetings and other events this week, and I don't like to overwork my wrists with hand sewing.