At the Crossroads

Taa-daa! Carolina Crossroads is a flimsy!  I finished adding the borders yesterday and prepped the backing. Now it's time to call Cindy Carrey of North Star Longarm Services to finish the quilt. The deep blue and bright orange combo is very striking. Maybe this quilt will bring some good luck to my favorite NFL team: the Denver Broncos. There are 50 blocks in this quilt so this it is fitting that this quilt is being completed before my 50th birthday.

I had a lot of fun digging through my blues to get a variety of shades and prints.

The outer border is a deep tone-on-tone blue stripe. Because of the stripe, I decided to miter the outer corner even though the inner borders were not mitered. This time I followed directions and the miters turned out great. The pictures are before ironing; they were flat after ironing...and a quick fix of a wobbly seam line.

Next up is a concerted effort to finish Celtic Solstice before Bonnie's new mystery quilt begins. As for Mystery 2014, I have all the fabrics selected. I am opting for deep, saturated coral, teal and green with golden yellow rather than pink, spring green and light turquoise. I just felt in the mood for richer colors.

Oh, and I finally finished the blocks for Mocha Swirl, too. Now I am searching for the perfect larger print for the outer border. I also put in some time on Blueberry Hill (Jamestown Landing) and Colorado Sunshine (Floribunda).

On a higher note, my hubby and I flew to Bloomsberg to check out yet another college town, sans daughter this time. We circled town a couple of times and talked to various people at the old, country airport. It was a nice flight, although a bit nerve racking to fly the low final approach over a river. This college seemed to be much smaller than my daughter wants, so it's not on our college tour schedule.

We visited Shippensberg University's Open House last weekend with our daughter. She seemed to enjoy this trip more than the last school we visited. It helped that a friend of hers was there (they swore to be roommates if they both went there) and she saw a former classmate there, too. I had also arranged with a friend of mine to meet up with his daughter's roommate. She hung out with us during the dorm tour and at lunch, giving us the personal perspective that you don't usually get on these generic open houses. That made a big difference, too. Another bonus is that there is an airport nearby, not exactly within walking distance but close enough. It's a great substitute for that three-hour drive.  Guess I need to make a red, white and blue quilt!

Me and My Shadow

Table runners are fun to make. You can try a new block and make something useful rather than relegating it to the orphan pile. You can buy a kit and finish over a weekend. They are a great way to get your quilting "fix" with getting discouraged by yet another UFO.

This one I finished up today as a gift for my neighbor. It's a kit from Connecting Threads. One of our fellow bloggers mentioned she buys most of her fabric from CT then adds a kit to qualify for free shipping. Great idea!

The border fabric is a whimsical Halloween print with lots of costumed faces. Very cute! And the pattern was easy. The only difficult part was figuring out the "quilt as desired" step.

This finish was rather bittersweet for me. Yesterday we said goodbye to our beloved lab Jessie. She was only 8 years old and her health deteriorated rapidly. This was a sudden loss, but it wouldn't have been any easier any other way. I feel numb and empty. As a distraction from the aching grief in my heart, I decided to work on this table runner yesterday. Done. I have another table runner to get me through today and tomorrow. There is a shadow at my feet, watching me sew and waiting for her next pat on the head.

In memory of Jessie, my sweet, goofy, playful puppy dog. 

May you have plenty of squirrels and balls to chase and a soft blanket to cuddle with in heaven.