Beadlust

Progress on
Boston Commons!

If you've been following my blog for the past few weeks, you know I've been working on a king sized Boston Commons quilt. I have to admit, it's been rather character building. I even had to resort to rewarding myself with a mint for each seam completed.

The construction method starts out easy enough. You cut fabrics in 3.5 inch strips and sew the strips together in sets of three or so at a time. Then you cross-cut the strips into new 3.5 inch strips, which then contain one block of each of the fabrics in the set. (Is that about as clear as mud? Good thing I'm not trying to write quilting books!) The sets are sewn together to make long strips. All that went pretty well for me. But then comes the big challenge... sewing those long strips together in the correct order to make the fabric of the quilt top. Ironing the seams wasn't easy either. I mean the quilt is 101 inches square!

Here is the top complete except for the very last seam, sewing the two halves together along the diagonal. I had dreaded it. But, in fact, it wasn't so bad. All the little blocks lined up fairly smartly, bless their little hearts.

Here is the completed top. I'm sooooooo happy to have it finished! Now, I have to piece the fabric for the back side and find someone to machine quilt it. Maybe we'll have it on our bed by Christmas. Wouldn't that be glorious!

On a personal note, my husband, Robert, will have back surgery (spinal fusion) on Friday. We live on an island with a nice medical clinic, but no hospital. So, we'll be going to a hospital in Bellingham for this surgery. He has tests scheduled for Thursday, and will probably be in the hospital until early next week. We both have a very positive attitude about this, believing he will finally get some relief from four years of constant back pain.

I'll be looking forward to catching up on your blogs and writing again soon after we return.