This is the most productive – for quilting – weekend I’ve had in ages. Saturday was Stitch & Bitch, though the weather and other commitments meant that there were only three of us here. It worked out well because we did more stitching and less bitching. The other kind is fun, but we’re talking about productivity today.

Mom finished testing the last of twelve blocks for the Botanicals BOM. Well, she tested the first draft of the pattern. Let’s just say I’m rewriting it. Fortunately, the overachiever is making two quilts, in slightly different colorways, so she can test the rewritten instructions as well. Later today I will post the instructions for the first block.

Mickey was working on her project, a five yard bundle that she picked up either the Quilt Expo in Madison or the International Quilt Fetival in Chicago/Rosemont last year.

As for me, I started working on a baby quilt for a co-worker. She knows I’m making it, and since that’s the case I asked her for input on fabric choices. She shared photos of the nursery and bedding they have: soft brown walls, white beadboard and woodwork, and bedding with peach, pink, turquoise, raspberry and orange. I had no idea where I wanted to go with this, so I looked through my EQ files and came across an illustration of a Kaleidoscope quilt I worked out for someone.

I liked it and decided to stop looking and start sewing. I cut a few 60 degree triangles thinking they should work, though I was at least smart enough to only cut about 40 triangles before testing.

(By the way, the color smears on the table are fingernail polish. It works for me.) When I sewed a test block, I found that the triangles would NOT make a Kaleidoscope block. Well, duh. Of course they wouldn’t. Do NOT go thinking you’re smarter than the EQ rotary cutting instructions. Still, I kind of liked the look of the 60 degree triangles so I drew up a new EQ project, this time using the Thousand Pyramids technique.

Bingo! That’s perfect. I used the Kaleidoscope idea of making squares/hexagons that are two alternating fabrics, but the effect is more subtle in the Thousand Pyramid design. It was surprisingly easy to construct – I took photos for a future tutorial, in case anyone’s interested. But here’s where the marathon part came in: I worked on this quilt from about 10:00 am Saturday until 2:30 am Sunday morning, then again Sunday from about 11:00 am until 9:30 pm that night. I finished both the quilt top AND the back, which I’m also quite proud of. I’m home sick today and I may put it on the frame and quilt it if things go well. I may actually finish an entire quilt, concept to binding, in three days.

Because I’m so close to completing it, I’m not sharing a photo of the top and backing just yet. Instead, here’s a little sneak preview. Maybe later today I’ll have the full reveal!