Layout help

Now that my Single Wedding Ring is done (remember, help me with names!), I have been playing a bit with my Log Cabin to try to come up with a layout. Actually, mainly I have been trying to find a solution to some problems with my laptop, which may have a virus that is not being detected. When not doing that, I have been playing with my log cabin blocks. Here are some of the possibilities. I am aiming for a quilt that is at least 70" wide, but several of the layouts would finish naturally at 60". My family likes ample quilt for their feet! Blank places would be filled with black squares or black borders. Please excuse the family debris in the photo, LOL.

#1, My original plan:#2. This is fun, and may be more interesting to quilt, but I might have to add an extra border at the top and bottom to get a usable length.

#3. Barn raising layout with color at the center. Block blocks would fill in the corners, and a wide block border all around.
$4. The playstation cord is such an attractive addition. Additional block border all around.
#5. Black to fill in the first border, and possibly an additional black border at the top and border to make up the length.

Finished!

My Single Wedding Ring is finished! You may all be fairly sick of seeing it as I have posted so many pictures as it was in process, but it now has binding. I tried out the piped binding method on the Ricky Tim DVD, and I am pretty pleased with the results. I like the touch of color the piping brings, and it gives me something to do with 1" strips leftover from various projects.

As with any method it will take some practice to really perfect it, but it is certainly an improvement on my previous attempts at machine binding! My previous quilts had stitching wandering in and out of the ditch on the front, and on the back they went from the quilt back to the binding, wandered back on the quilt top. This time, although I am not exactly in the ditch everywhere, you can't really tell unless you are looking pretty closely because the thread just blends in with the piping. On the back I have a nice even line of stitching running just parallel to the binding everywhere except at some of the corners where my miters did not come quite far enough over the line of stitching. The mitering of the corners was definitely the hardest part of this method. I find it fairly easy when just stitching the continuous binding and mitering as I go.

Now I need a name. I am thinking of something like "A flurry of feathers" or "feathered frenzy". All suggestions are welcome. Ah. Now that I write this, I realize I forgot about a label for this quilt. I will either quilt the name and date into the border or into a somewhere, or add a label by hand.

I'm back!

I spent last week in Thailand, participating in a fantastic conference with participants from all over SE Asia and East Asia. It was wonderful to meet such dedicated and insightful people and to hear the stories of how they have worked for the advancement of their communities. The conference was really busy, so I did not manage any quilting this week until getting back to Macau, despite bringing some hand piecing along.

Yesterday, I was able to finish the last few blocks for my Log Cabin. I am not sure about the layout to use, though. I had originally planned lay them out so that all the bright halves would face in the same direction, but then I thought about using a barn raising layout, which may end up giving more interesting options for quilting. If I do that, I either have to make another row of blocks, or take away 4 blocks. I am out of red scraps for more blocks, though, and without the blocks the quilt might be a bit short. Here is the original layout. It would have wide black borders for fancier quilting. The blocks are just laid out randomly. Might need a bit of adjustment.

I also managed to pick up my two new presser feet for the Ricky Tim binding. I can't wait to try it out.