Day: August 26, 2023

I took “Bonanza” off the longarm early evening last night.

And, WOW, she is beautiful.

I called her “Bonanza” because she is made with leftover solid scraps from my fabric stash. The backing was there too–bought two years ago with birthday money from my younger son and his sweet wife. I would also like to say that “Bonanza” was inspired by designer Tara Faughnan’s recent work with half-square triangles. She has a new pattern out featuring them–which you can see on her web site.

I am fascinated with the secondary patterns that emerge with the use of light/dark half-square triangles. And that’s how this quilt got to be 83 inches square.

Here’s the backing:

You can see how the colors support the quilt top:

The pantograph, sewn in light grey thread, is “Bayside.” I wanted a pattern that would just lay down solid coverage that wasn’t too intense. “Bayside” is always a good choice.

Here’s a pic of the texture Bayside provides.

And here’s the quilt from another angle. The light is not great in the room where my longarm lives–especially when it is getting dark outside. But I have great light on my longarm from its light bar. And I can drag in other light if needed, but so far, I have not.

I am going to bind in the same dark “midnight” blue/purple used (Kona Nightfall) in the sashing. I have enough of this fabric in my stash, and I’ll cut and make that binding today–after I trim “Bonanza” on the back of the longarm. I’ll likely go ahead and install the binding as that will stabilize the edges of this quilt.

Meanwhile, the Summer Camp mystery quilt blocks are going up on the design wall. When I get them up I’ll let them sit for a bit so I can move around blocks as I see what needs moving. I’ll prep “Happy’s” backing (the quilt from hell) and put her on the longarm to be basted for hand quilting. And “Red Positivity” awaits her turn on the longarm–so named by a blog reader who noted the plus signs in the middle of each block.

As summer draws to a close, my summer quilty work is also gradually finishing up. It’s been a good summer.