Bearly There. Project Quilting 12.3 Virtual Vacation

 

 Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a true "cozy of last resort".  Well technically it is a mug rug of last resort.  

This week's challenge was to make a quilt that interprets the idea of virtual vacation, where you've been, where you want to be, where you actually are.  It was the perfect opportunity to pull out some of my 'travel' fabric.  I have a small set of cuts from Hawaii that my mom and my sister picked out for me when they were there a few years ago.  Since Spud 3 was known for his Hawaiian shirts it is a quilt project destined for him.  I also have a stash of fabrics picked up in Alaska on a trip with my sister, the mister and Spud 3. 

Our trip to Alaska was primarily a fishing trip for the spud.  My sister has taken all of the spuds to Alaska for their graduation present.  I just happened to figure out how to tag along one time.  It was a tightly scheduled vacation with lots of people and one car.  I figured I could finagle in one quilt shop during our travels.  I researched.  I really researched and settled in on the Quilted Raven in Anchorage.  It seemed the most Alaskan.  We had a few days there as we waited for my mom, my brother and my cousin, who summers in Alaska to arrive.  

So my sister and I ventured out shopping one afternoon.  We looked at art galleries.  We tried on mukluks.  We had a blast looking around and spent quite a bit of time in the Quilted Raven.  I carefully considered my options and I purchased a restrained amount of fabric and patterns.  

This table runner was made for a PQ challenge a couple years after our return.  It is from the that little stash of fabric.   

Much to my surprise, my sister declared the following day at I needed to go back to the quilt shop. I was happy to oblige.  I could look around again.  There was so much to see.  So we all piled into the car and went back to the quilt shop.  Much not to my surprise, after a very few minutes, my sister decided she was bored with the quilt shop and she and her husband went off to the mukluk shop next door.  

The mister and the spud found fabric.  They found lots of fabric.  They insisted I needed more fabric.  I ended up buying waaay more fabric than the day before.  It took up most of the spare space in my suitcase.  It really, truly wasn't my fault.  

So... I have a stash of fabric from Alaska.  I never had a plan for it.  It was purchased as blocks and fat quarters, a few yards here an there and a couple panel-ish cuts.  None of it is in my usual selection.  All of it is big bold prints with designs that need to be featured.  It has lingered in my stash for quite a while as one of those sets in need of a plan.  

 So I had fabric from Alaska where I have been and want to return and from Hawaii where I have never been but want to go.  Both fabrics seem destined for spud 3.  Fortuitously he was home this week.  So we looked at the fabrics and came up with a plan.  

North to Alaska.  North the rush was on.  

We decided to use the pack of 7 inch squares and one of the panel-ish pieces of fabric.  Spud 3 has an amazing eye for color and design.  He suggested we use brown as the sashing color.  Of course, my selection of brown was limited so.... off the the store to purchase what looked right.  And we auditioned them all.  We sent pictures to the mister to get his opinion.  We selected the perfect fabric and I got started.  

 

I had to do some math to figure out what size to cut the center panel so that the blocks all lined up and fit.  OF COURSE, there were 18 blocks in the pack and needed 22 blocks no matter what.  That meant I HAD to fussy cut four more blocks.  Those of you who know me, know that the two two things I truly dislike in quilting are fussy cutting and sashing.  Yep. This whole project depended on both of them!  

But I persisted. 

I love using clips to label each block.

I got everything cut and laid out and had to wait for the spud to approve the layout.  He can be very fussy about block arrangement and can see patterns that no one else will ever notice but will make the quilt over the top better when you follow them.  I carefully sewed the rows of blocks together.  I was extremely careful to make sure the seams were consistent so that things would line up in the end.  Things were going swimmingly.  And then.... 

My math was correct but I set up the story problem wrong.  Those  perfect 7 inch blocks actually finish at 6.5 inches.  Yep.  Amateur mistake.  So.  I had to figure out how to fix it.  It threw me for a loop and I lost a day. Then I had to work of the nerve to actually cut the panel down.  No way I could get a replacement.  Fussy cutting an order of magnitude worse.

I did get it done, with an assist from the mister.  I did get much of it pieced, just a few things left to do.  But by late Saturday, I knew I was not going to do the quilt justice if I pushed through and tried to finish it up.  This one is too special to risk making more amateur mistakes.  So I had to come up with the cozy of last resort.  

 

There were 18 blocks in the pack I was using.  Seventeen of them were gorgeous and graphic and wonderful.  And then there was the one that stood out like a sore thumb, or paw as the case may be.  This print was just plain awful in the quilt.  So I had to fussy cut yet another block.  ARGGGHHHH!

This little patch of paw prints was left over.  I decided to take one of the rejected browns, applique a bear on to it and make it a mug rug.  It reminds me more of Colorado than Alaska but as I am always going there on vacation it still works.  So.... Bearly There is my cozy of last resort.  

The real quilt will be finished in short order.  I want to have it ready for the spud to take with him when he heads back out.  

Bearly There.  PQ 12.3.  Virtual Vacation.  7 x 7 inch mug rug.  Raw edge applique.  Outline quilted.  Hand stitched binding.  Made near St Louis, MO.