Took You Long Enough

After a little more than a year (!?), my Zephyr quilt top is finished! That's okay that it took so long, I was in no hurry. These improv-style log cabin blocks are so much fun to sew, but can be a little time consuming. They may look totally random, but I give a bit of thought to what fabric I'll add next; I like to have a good balance of patterns and colors. So I'd make a few here and there in between other projects, when I just wanted to play.

I'd originally planned to make smaller scrap blocks, shown above, and surround each with yellow, green and blue solids...but at some point I decided to go full-on scrappy. Sometimes when you're adding 'walls' to your improv log cabins, you just don't want to stop ;)

This was my work area (a.k.a. kitchen table). I was surrounded by lots and lots of (mostly) freehand-cut strips and scraps. And see that little ironing board? Handiest thing I've ever made! It's a wooden tv tray, padded and covered to make a portable ironing board (click here for the tutorial). For any kind of block that needs to be pressed after every seam...I just turn around and there it is.

It's taken so long (I even had a sewing machine upgrade in the meantime), but all those strips and scraps have turned into this queen-size quilt top:

Each finished block measured 12 1/2" x 12 1/2", 56 blocks with a scrap border. It's busy, but the palette is limited, so that keeps it from being too crazy. I wish I had taken a full picture of it, but it's turned way too gray and rainy here, so I'll show you the whole thing when it's all quilted and bound.

Along the way, I had a few roadblocks:

She's like a sweet, loving Godzilla, laying waste to my work area.

The destruction. There's one of the poor blocks, jammed up against my sewing machine.

Or I find someone taking a bath on it. Clearly she was as excited about the top being finished as I was. Normally these kinds of antics are not tolerated, but they're smart enough to know 1. Get into position quickly and 2. Look as adorable as possible.
Sometimes I just sigh and get the camera.

I'm going to machine quilt it. It'll be only the second quilt I'll have machine quilted, and the first full-size quilt...wish me luck! Now let's hope it doesn't take another year :/

Have a happy weekend!

Linked up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday