I’m getting close to getting this fabric used up.

I will admit, I have several yards of this one type of fabric that is hard to use. I’m a bit stumped, and I have over 2 yards of it in 3 colorways. So, it’s a challenge, all right. You will see it in this quilt top but in another one as well. It’s the border fabric shown below.

This is one of those quilt tops I told you was going to be much more intense with the piecing.

Much more intense.

All the chain blocks were made with 1” finished squares - of course, I did chain piece every chance I could, and the tulip blocks, while bigger pieces, because they involved half square triangles which included trimming, took longer. I was able to make those chain blocks pretty much in one day. I spread the tulip blocks out over several days.

I absolutely LOVE this top.

Of course, if you have followed me a long time, you know I love chain quilts.

I wanted to use up this lighter tan/beige in this line of fabric and while I used a bit of it in a couple of different quilts already, I thought it would be fun to use in a quiet chain - which took over the background in the top while the tulips took center stage.

The background cream in this top is NOT part of the line of fabrics. I simply ran out of the cream on cream fabrics that came with it. I only had a couple of yards of each to start with and you know how fast one can go through that.

To be honest, I’ve not shown the top yet that actually uses up the last of the cream on creams that are part of the line. In that one, I will be using pretty much all of the cream that is left plus other brands as I scrounge to find things that match.

I do have some of the low volume fabrics left - with a design on the cream; however, I didn’t want to use it here since I was using such a quiet type fabric for the chain. I was thinking the low volume fabric just might overwhelm it and my chain might not be visible.

And that, my fellow quilters, would be tragic.

So I went to my stash and I found this backing fabric which worked as a nice background. I ran out COMPLETELY of my cream background so the last little 1” finished border between the blocks and the tan/beige border is part that fabric and partly another fabric that was pretty similar.

And I love it.

I made this quilt from my dad’s shirts PLUS some pink bandana - for my mom.

The tulips - I made the same tulips I used in one my dad’s shirts patterns. I’ve loved these tulips ever since the first time I made them.

Rock Garden Quilt

One other time I used them was in my Rock Garden quilt pattern.

This top ends up being about 97”x97” which for me is a wonderful nice sized queen sized quilt top. It leaves plenty of room on the sides for our bed, anyway.

Just for the curious, this is the series so far. This wasn’t a series I actually had planned, but it is what it is.

What do I have left?

I have used most of the colorful fabrics.

I need to cut strips for bindings for all these larger tops and then see what I have left. (I’ll make scrappy bindings for most of the quilts except for this one. I’m using a lighter blue from the series - a navy but not dark navy— for this one - strips are cut, and I’ll go ahead and make over 400” (about 415” each) of binding for each quilt top. They can wait for me to finish quilting them as long as I have them put in a safe place.)

I also have some of the low volume cream background fabrics. I am very happy to have them left as I probably won’t find them difficult to use. We’ll see. I’m surprised at myself that I’ve not used them yet.

Then I have most of the striped fabrics like this: I had this one in 3 colorways. This particular border did use up almost all of what I had in this colorway. I just have a little bit left - maybe 4”x 2 yards.

I also have this design with green as the main color and also rust. I do have rust already cut up mostly for a border for another quilt top I’m doing. The green is just sitting in my plastic bin, quietly waiting for an idea.

So here’s this little series. I just have to laugh. I’m so ready to have this one done, I am ignoring some other things I should be doing. But, I’m like the horse going to the barn— I can hardly be stopped - as I am getting so close to finishing up these fabrics (by comparison to where I was when I started)! I do have two more currently started.

I have a lot of that soft coral and sort of blue green (light colors) left and one of the remaining two tops will use those two colors almost exclusively.

The next one I’m doing that is intense— requires just one block in two colorways and won’t have any sashings and/or cornerstones, so putting it together will be a piece of cake by comparison. However, piecing the blocks certainly isn’t. And it is also a big one.

Then the other one I’ve actually started uses the cut off points (bonus triangles) from the Granny Square Special border as the jumping off point. It is also turning out much finer than I had hoped. In the end, while I’m ready, psychologically, to go on to brighter colors, the finished quilt tops of all of these are stunning.