Finishing Up

May's Dixie Diary with heart
Tokens of Dried Roses

May's Dixie Diary with star--oops, should have picked off that thread!

Did I ever mention that Barbara Brackman showed a couple of my blocks on her blog last month?

What's Up entry HERE 

I'm still thrilled about that!

Grandmother's Choice Block 36 Sunbonnet Sue
I'm not a big fan of Sunbonnet Sue (sorry Anne!) and apparently there are a lot of  Grandmother's Choice participants that feel the same way. Check out the variations HERE
I took a little flare out of her skirt and made her some shoes with heels. 

I packed several projects to work on while on retreat. My first project was Hat Trick for Another Year of Schnibbles that I showed you HERE.  

After I got that put together, I pulled out my Leesburg quilt blocks. 

I had pieced all of the blocks before I left home, but had to add the setting triangles to make the strips and then add the border print between them. My plan was to use the border print like this in the center:

Or maybe this:

We all agreed that both those options really drew the eye away from the blocks and straight to the center of the quilt. Then I tried just a strip of the light blue in the center. You can see that still draws the eye from the blocks.

I really wanted to work the lighter blue into the quilt somewhere, but it just wasn't working.
Now I have a lot of light strips to work into another top!

After a lot of discussion and input from my retreat buddies, this is the outcome. I'm really happy with it and won't be putting any borders on it, so it will be a true Strippy Quilt!

I didn't bring along enough dark strips to retreat, so the last strip went on at home.
The original pattern doesn't have the border strips on the outside edges, but has borders all around. 

Original pattern Here

Buggy Wheels was my third project. The blocks were all pieced, and I just had to add the sashings and border.

From Sew Scrappy Vol. 2 magazine

Carole and I usually have tables next to each other at Quilt Camp. Carole is the Queen of Quilt Settings. I am always in awe of the unusual and interesting settings she comes up with. She is a firm believer that there should not be a "partial" block at the edge of a quilt. 

Those half Shoo-fly blocks around the edges of the quilt had to be finished!

Of course, I didn't bring along enough of my Indigo Crossings fabric, since finished Shoo-fly's weren't in the plan.
I got the center all pieced at camp and added the borders at home. 

Carole was right--love it!!
Thank goodness I had cut my lengthwise outer border extra long and it still worked with the added inches.

Sandi brought this version to Quilt Camp--she had already been educated by Carole on dealing with those partial blocks.
Her blocks were made from waste triangles--stunning!