Long Time Gone

The top is done:

This pattern is a book by Jen Kingwell, a well-known Australian designer. I found a sew-a-long that is running from March through July 12, 2017 and started with it, making one set of blocks a week:
Long Time Gone Sew-a-Long. If you want to make this quilt, I recommend you go to that website right now to print out the one page TRACKER she created that shows what blocks will be done each week--you can keep track of your progress easily that way, even if you aren't working on it now. It was so much fun, I pushed ahead and got this top done today, ahead of schedule.

NOTE: I didn't enter the contests or follow the tutorials or use templates. The only blocks that are paper pieced are the 16 Pineapple Log Cabin Blocks. I used EQ7 to print my patterns--the pattern is included in the book that you can copy for your use.

The one change I made;  instead of 3 narrow borders of mostly light fabrics, I made 2 light and one dark border--the lights were cut 1.75" wide, various lengths, whatever I had left, and the dark outer border pieces were cut 3"--feel free to do whatever you like with your borders. This quilt is 70" x 71" and I think that's big enough. I was considering adding another dark border but no, I think this top is done.

Back in January I signed up with Homestead Hearth to do this as a Block of the Month, using their fabric--I've received 4 months of fabrics so far and will use those to demo with when teaching this class locally this Fall. So, yes, that means I'll be making a second one of these. As it is no longer on their Special Programs page, that means they are no longer taking sign-ups for this one.

For my local students: this class will be at Huntsville Sew and Vac,  Saturday: Sept 16, Oct 21, Nov 18, Dec 16, 2017, Jan 27, Feb 24, 2018, from 1-4 p.m. They are not ready for sign-ups yet, but will be soon. I hope you'll join me for this journey.

Stash-busting isn't what you would think: this used lots of fabric but created just as much "new" scrap it seems. So, rather than put all those pieces away, I'll be making block samples for several upcoming classes and maybe, someday, I'll make my own scrappy orphan quilt.

Now to prepare a back and baste this so I can quilt it.

Let's Quilt!

Barbara