Today, I had hoped to have something new to show you, but alas, UPS has decided to be uncooperative, and my new toy will not arrive until later this week. All I’m going to say at this point is that it is fiber related, but not sewing related. Hopefully, I will be able to share it with you this weekend.

My Prairie Life quilt backing is coming together quite nicely. I think I have most, if not all, of the nine patch blocks together now, and I have four of the seven rows sewn together and joined. If I seem uncertain about whether or not I’m done with the nine patches, it’s because I am. My original plan had a border framing the nine patch middle, but now I’m not sure I have enough fabric on the bolt to finish the backing that way. I do, however, still have a ton of 3.5″ squares from the Little House on the Prairie fabric I’m using, and probably more than enough of the Kona Snow to make a few more nine patch blocks and finish the backing that way. I would need to add another row of blocks both width and length, but I think I can scrounge up enough Snow to get the job done. The alternative is to take the backing to the quilt store and try to find a solid that would match that I could use to frame the nine patches. To be honest, I’m not certain that the “Kona Snow” I’ve been using is in fact Kona fabric. It was on a Kona bolt at Joann’s, and I paid Kona prices, but it doesn’t look like Kona quality. It seems a little thin to be Kona, but I’ve been assured repeatedly that it is Kona.

I still have my doubts.

At any rate, the backing is coming together nicely, and I need to make a decision right fast about what direction I want to go to finish it up. I have come up with some ideas on trying to get the front lined up correctly with the backing, but I’m not sure which will work best. My current idea is to lay out the quilt batting and the backing on top of it, and trim the batting to the same size as the back. I would then spray baste the backing to the batting, flip the whole thing over and align the quilt top on the batting, making sure that the top is straight on the batting. One of the biggest challenges I face when preparing a quilt top for sandwiching is squaring up the top, because I really don’t have a space quite big enough to do it. Since I’m not making quilts for shows, and I quilt them myself on my domestic machine (meaning, they don’t have to be prepped for a long arm frame), I don’t usually sweat it too much. This time, however, with all those little squares on the backing, if I’m way off on how the front and back are lined up, it’s going to be noticeable. That’s the reason why I thought the border around the nine patches would be a good idea. It’s a little less difficult to notice small imperfections on a solid piece of fabric. Most people can see that there’s a 1/2″ difference between the size of the first square in a row, and the last square in the row. They also tend to notice the slant a lot more in that scenario than they do on a solid piece of fabric.

I am so ready to be done with this quilt, as I have so many more in the queue to be done. Prairie Life is an older UFO that I started probably four or five years ago, so I’m excited that it’s getting done, but I’m also really excited to start the Bee Patriotic quilt along with Lori Holt. I haven’t started the quilt yet, but I’m hoping to get a lot of it done next week, since we will be “on vacation.” For us, vacation means hanging out around the house, maybe taking some day trips, but overall our focus is to just not work. There will be day trips, and maybe an overnight trip or two. For us, vacations are rarely planned. Whatever we do, you can bet we’ll be having fun. 🙂