Renovation project

Every once in awhile I find a top at the Guild Flea market that has structural and/or design problems that tell a story of frustration.   That is to say, the maker just did not want to go through the pain and / or aggravation to fix the problem.  Let someone else deal with it!  I get it!  I've been there.   I generally take a pass on such projects.  Let some braver person adopt them.  But this top seemed to have  a fairly easy fix.  It was nicely designed, the blocks were well constructed, the top was square.  The only problem was the floral panels between the basket panels were stiff as a board because they were heavily glued.

The flowers were carefully cut out from the border fabric and glued down with some kind of white paste kind of glue.   But I think the problem which caused the abandonment was due to the fact that once all the motifs were glued down the panels were so thick with glue and extra layers of fabric it was impossible to sew them down?! 

Imagine going to all that work and realizing the problem!

Come to think about it we've probably all been there once or twice?!

Any who,  I thought it would be an easy fix to simply extract the 'over glued' panels and replace them with some print that worked with the over all design!

Ha Ha Ha!

I Rarely ever back stitch!  I will go through all kinds of contortions to avoid back stitching but I thought this was a good cause so I patiently picked out one panel.  

By the time I finished picking and carefully easing in the substitute my patience had run dry.

So the laugh's on me, someone else's UFO had become my UFO!

I put it away for several years.

But with my new "Finish 'um up" program I decided to get this one done!

So here's the new improved version with both panels replaced!

 I was going to quilt it the original size once I fixed the panels.  But last week I got an email from my local guild.  A call for donations for the folks who have lost their homes in the recent fires in the Santa Cruz mountains (CZU).  Over 900 homes were burned in that fire!  Bed quilt donations were preferred.  Luckily I had more of the pink fabric and plenty of greens so it was an easy expansion.  The extra borders will make it about 90" square.   I don't think I've ever made a donation quilt so big?!  But it's been kinda fun making the green piano keys.

And lucky for me I have a Longarm so quilting it won't be to much of a chore.

I hope you all are safe and sound!!!

Take care!

CW