Long Time Gone gets Longer

A while back I finished sewing  my version of  a quilt called "Long Time Gone", a pattern  by Jen Kingwell.

The finished size was a 66" square but I wanted to make it longer so that it would fit a twin sized bed.  My plan was to design an additional strip that would be sewn to the top of what I had so far in order to create a longer, rectangular quilt.

To begin, I created a section of Tumbling Block units (that I wrote about here)  and that was as far as I had gotten.

Here we are in 2020 with plenty of  dedicated stay-at-home time and I knew it was time to get back to work on this.

 I wanted to have a section of little houses so I began with those.  It was fun to choose all the fabrics for the houses, doors and roofs.  These little guys each measure 3 X 4 inches.

The houses unit would be sewn to the left of the tumbling blocks, and I decided on Friendship Stars to go on the right side:

The pinwheel centers of the stars have a finished measurement of only 2".

I needed one more narrow strip of blocks to make the additional section wide enough, and I chose some Card Trick blocks.

These blocks required a good amount of concentration to keep the orientation straight, but I loved the end result.  They measure 3 inches, and made for a darling little filler strip:

As I finished each of the sections, I laid them out on the bed near the previously finished quilt top to see how they would look.  As you can see in the photo below I also added a horizontal filler strip of one inch squares, under the Friendship Stars.

I was pleased that the vertical sashing strip between the Tumbling Blocks and the Friendship Stars would line up directly on top of a vertical sashing strip of the quilt top I had made so far.  This would help keep the newly created strip  from looking like the add-on that it was.

Eventually, it all came together into a new, longer quilt top!

Designing the top row to compliment the rest of the quilt was a challenge, and actually took several days to complete.  The hardest part was coming up with design elements that helped balance the dark and light areas of the rest of the quilt.   I feel good about how it turned out and can't wait to get it quilted.

STATS:
   Number of pieces in the Houses section:  110
   Number of pieces in the Card Trick section:  120
   Number of pieces in the Tumbling Blocks section:  306
   Number of pieces in the Friendship Stars section:  180
   Number of pieces in the previously finished part of the quilt:  2414

  TOTAL number of pieces:  3130

3 UFO's for the Challenge

As I mentioned in my previous post, I've joined a UFO Challenge over at Finn's blog.  The challenge is open ended so that each quilter chooses how many projects she/he wants to finish before New Year's Eve.  I've committed myself to 3 projects, but there is one ambitious lady who has given herself the task of finishing 19!  I'll be rooting for her.

Here are the 3 projects I've decided on.  The first is my "Coral Reef" quilt:

Anyone who was reading my blog last year might remember this quilt top that I gave  to my husband for Christmas.  It started out as a wallhanging, but it had gotten so large in the process of designing it, that it was practially lap quilt size.  I waited until my husband opened it on Christmas morning to ask him if he would prefer a lap quilt, and he said that would be nice. (To his credit, he said a wallhanging would be nice too.)

I think it's time to get this top turned into a real quilt don't you?  Hopefully in time for THIS Christmas.



My second project will be to finish this quilt:

This is a twin size quilt that I am making for my daughter's boyfriend, who is a martial arts instructor.  He's currently in China right now, studying and training.  I'd like to have this one done to give him for Christmas when he returns.
 
The pattern is called "Ring Around". Right now it is pieced into four subsections which I plan to quilt separately, and then sew together afterwards, sort of a very large "quilt-as-you-go" project.

I'm waffling a bit on which project to choose as my third one, but I've settled on this one:

This green and purple Card Trick quilt top is intended to be a couch quilt for our family room.  I finished the top a long while ago, and later, in a burst of guilt-driven motivation to get it quilted I got it pin basted and ready to machine quilt, and that is how it has been for almost a year now.  (I know!)

I need to get this one actually quilted before the basting pins rust, or the couch wears out and it won't match anymore. 

So, thank you Finn, for hosting this UFO Challenge, and Good Luck to everyone else who is participating.  I hope to get all 3 of these tops quilted, and out there being used and loved, instead of sitting on top of the fabric stash.