quilt top comin' right up

Yesterday was my last day off between jobs, and I took advantage of the moody fall weather to make. I managed to put in a whole day (!) at the sewing machine part of which was dedicated to finishing the top to my grandpa's quilt. A week and a half ago I had stacks of squares and a mild sense of 'hmm is this going to actually happen?'

Little by little the squares were crafted into half-square triangles and then into quarter blocks. Today I took those quarter blocks and played with different options for combining them into the final blocks. The written pattern has a scrappy multi-colored look, but I ended up using the light and dark prints in each color together in one block for a more pulled together look.

I went with linen for the sashing squares. I considered using orange or red, but really like the way the natural color and texture of the somewhat rough linen plays with the gray fabric. That little bird in the background of the picture above pretty much sums up my feeling about sashing though. Not being much of a pinner, I have a hard time keeping the long strips of fabric behaving and lining up properly as I go along, so the going gets slow. In the end it all worked out and I finished up the early afternoon with a lovely looking quilt top ready for basting. 

Next I need to figure out a back and check to see if I have enough of the prints left over to make a scrappy binding. This one is well on its way!