Progress Made, Progress Stalled

 So!  Bad news first.  I started in on Squiddle's Christmas quilt, and got the first two rows (red, then black) around the center panel added on.  But when I cut out the next row (orange), I ended up 11.5" shy.  And this is a years-old fabric, I can't get any more of it.  I was at Joann Fabrics up in Port Orchard last week, they don't have anything suitable.  And I've gone through my stash in the garage.  And the only quilt shop here in Gig Harbor closed.

F*ck.

However, I looked on the Joann Fabrics website, and if it isn't lying to me, the store over in Tacoma (so across the toll bridge) has some possibilities.  So the plan is to go there tomorrow and hope.  And if that doesn't work, go farther afield to The Quilting Fairy in Puyallup, which I recall was a pretty big store.  (I looked at the website for Shibori Dragon, in University Place, which is closer, but again found nothing that would work).

So since I can't work on that today, I'm going to get the quilt for my mother basted and labelled.  I found about eight yards of a backing fabric in my stash, so I got that seamed up and pressed ready yesterday.

Here's the quilt top as I pulled it out of the stash:

Pretty well made, obviously a sampler quilt, but not a great size for any of my parents' beds.  Also, I found a pin my grandmother left in it!  So I've set that pin aside in a special location because I am a sentimental being.

Here it is after I added borders:

(Forgive the lumpiness from the toys scattered all about under it.  I wasn't in the mood to stop working to clean them up.)  The near and far final white border are each 2" narrower than the same border on the sides.  Otherwise it was going to drag on the floor while draped across a bed.  I have some of the blue from the bottom left square prepped as the binding, though I'm still debating if a dusky pink might work better?