Still Stripping

When I first hit on the idea of seasonal decor I began at spring. And I kept beginning again every spring. It is a besetting sin! That is why I am a bit fixated on committing to a plan (i.e. blogging) so I can get moving along. This was one of the spring quilts. I had some peach. I was thinking peach or cherry blossoms and that spoke a slightly oriental/modern theme. My peaches were rather sparse, old, and dated. The amounts weren't huge and I decided that all together they could work. So I began to cut strips and I just sewed them end to end. Then I cut them into the quilt width I wanted. I did some preplanning as I adjusted them and added spare strips to move the more noticeable ones about the surface. I had a very large chunk of the border which is pinky/peach. I don't like those wide fabric borders so I inserted some leftover strips to break that up. That peachy/pink is also the backing. Quilting in the ditch is not real exciting. So I used my 3 step zig zag and did a wavy line down every second seam. Then I reversed direction and came from the opposite direction for the seams I'd missed. This kept the quilt from skewing or twisting off square. It does take a bit of patience as time is added by the zigging and zagging. But I was very pleased with the results. It is a handy quilt and sometimes shows up for a summer accessory.

I do have both sunshine room tops sewn. This second one is not trimmed as I wanted to show how the edges shift. I should have paid more attention to my alternate sewing directions but it is easy to get turned around. I also have one fabric that is definitely not as wide as the others. I'm deciding if I need to rip a few and re square. The fabrics on the left are the backing fabric options. I split the orange with the busy dots that I used as thin accents for the top so I'd have equal amounts for each backing. It is an April Cornel Polka Dot by Moda. It works very well in the sunshine room. I want to use the trim that is in the valence, that darker stripe, as well as any leftover cut strips. I have a Michael Miller Serengetti Patchwork fabric with animals on it that I think would add some fun. I'm really tempted to leave the dots as one piece, use the stripe as the dividing line and then use leftover strips of the orange as spacers for the animals. Binding I'll worry about later. Hmm, perhaps I should think about pillow cases as well. But I am so liking to actually stay with this project and not assign it a hanger like so many others. I will carry on with the choices for my summer fabrics as I'll have my ornaments and stuff out so I can see how my fabric choices would work, but I doubt I'll start any actual projects. I do have some things that need finishing as well as these 2 spring quilts. I also have a lot of quilts that work for summer and want their day in the sun! 8^)