Quilting on Christmas quilt is completed

So just in time for the ice skating to begin, I have finished the quilting on my Christmas quilt.  in case you are following this quilt for finishing instructions.  I have sashed the blocks made here with a 2 1/2" Kona snow fabric.  The outside border was cut 6 1/2".  I chose to quilt it like this.

Here are a couple of pics as I took it off of the frame.

Maybe it is me, but don't you think they look like Christmas packages all lined up in rows?

Last night my stitchin' group got together.  I made good progress on my other top for the Olympic challenge.  I am right on track now to finish the binding on this one and the top complete on the other one.  I have until Sunday's closing ceremonies, so all is good.  Time to settle in for the evening and some women's figure skating.

Let's talk numbers

So Friday night I started cutting out squares, I have been sewing squares on and off all weekend.

  Last night while watching the USA (WOOHOO) /Canada in hockey game, I got out my calculator and pencil.  It was time to do some figuring.  If I want to make this quilt queen size how many squares would I need?  the answer 1548 total. 774 white, means 56 -3" strips or 4 2/3 yards of fabric exactly with NO cutting errors.  774 colored squares, I happen to have those little plastic baggies I picked up from the Fabri-quilt   booth at the Minnesota Quilt show in a couple different years.  There happens to be about 223 squares in those bags.  That means I have to come up with another 551 - 3" squares from my stash, very doable with my stash. 

 I am really liking the clearness (or brightness not really sure of the correct term to use)of the colors in these squares.  Most of my stash is countrified (is tha a word?), you know what I mean, Thimbleberries, Kansas Trouble Quilters eg.  So that means I will have to do more digging for those clear colors but the scrappy feel of only having a few of each fabric in the quilt is possible.

Having figured that all out, wouldn't it make more sense to just make a baby quilt since I would only need 432 squares total.  I already would have enough colored squares cut, so that would mean only cutting the white fabric.  A baby quilt doesn't go very far to help bust my stash though.  It certainly would be faster to finish though.  The mental argument continued until I looked at the squares alittle differently.

I really like the looks of these squares on point. 

So what are your thoughts, queen, baby, straight set, on points or something all together different.  I would love to here your thoughts.

Friday Night Sew In

Not much to report I only got some squares cut

So I got a few white squares cut.  I was ready to sew, the phone rang, it was a friend I hadn't talked to in ages.  One hour later and too many late nights watching the olympics this week and I was ready for bed.  So today I will be sewing the squares. 

So to Heidi, thank-you for hosting this.