An orange block and a Christmas quilt.

Do you look through magazines and books, dreaming about all the quilts you will make some day?  I have a bad habit of borrowing quilting books from the library, poring over them for two weeks, then realising I only have a week left before having to return  them, and I haven't even started to make anything, let alone try to copy a pattern for future reference.  So I have to make a quick decision - look for the book on eBay or Amazon to buy a copy for myself, or work really fast to make up a block that I like!

The library book was due back on Saturday and I had decided there wasn't enough in it to warrant buying a copy, so on Friday night I made up a block which is a mini version of one of the quilt designs I liked.  It is simply cutting strips and sewing them together until you have the length you want.  But this is done twice so you have two rows of strips.  They are sewn together without sashing, and a border added.  I ended up with three rows instead of two for my block, as I used as much as possible of the stash in my box of orange/brown scraps and decided to do it this way.  I'm quite pleased with the way it has turned out, for something done on the run.  And now I have a reference point for a future quilt in that pattern.

Also on Friday night, I added a border to the Xmas quilt/throw I've been doing for my monthly Xmas Item project.  This also used old Xmas fabrics I'd had for years, and that I simply wanted to get rid of from my Xmas fabric stash before I buy new materials.  The border in particular is a very old patchwork fabric that I found at an opshop about 5 years ago, and could never make up my mind what to use it for.  All I have to do now is make it up with batting, backing and binding, and it will be added to my box of Xmas goodies.