Quilting as I go

Hi everyone!  How is your week going? We are having another cold snap and woke up to snow yesterday.  Really, I am ready to be done with this.  But in keeping with the weather, I finished quilting up the Christmas quilt and only have a bit of the binding left to stitch. More on that quilt on Friday, but for now I'm working on using up the old jelly roll of solids.

If you recall, I decided to use that old solids jelly roll to make two versions of the Regatta quilt by Daniela at Block M, one in blues and greens and one in the warmer colors. It occurred to me that these were the perfect quilt-as-you-go projects, so I started with this backing for the blue and green version:

I want these quilts to end up about 40 by 50, so I cut the backing about 60 inches long, then basted on some leftover batting.  Then I just started stitching on some of the prepared strips:

This is super-easy so far.  I may go back when I'm done and add in some more straight lines, but for now it's going pretty fast. 

Because the quilts I'm making are smaller than the original pattern, I'm only using three "steps" instead of four, at 10, 14, and 18 inches.  I think it's going to work just fine.  For my size, I'm planning on 25 strips, 12 of the pattern and 13 of the solids. 

I'm hoping to have the blue and green quilt pieced this week, then work on the warm-colored one.  I have this backing for that version:

Isn't that fun? I happened to look at Sarah's plan for the Hands to Help Challenge this year (check HERE), and it looks like these quilts will be perfect for donating to the Challenge.  I guess that's where they'll be headed then!

Hope you are all having a good week and staying warm.  It's the last day of January, so can spring be far behind?

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