Things to do on a rainy day

Rain doesn't usually make me happy, but when the temperature rises and relentless rain is doing a very good job of removing the sheet of ice our roads have been covered with for weeks, I'm happy! Since I don't really have to go outside, I can just enjoy the sound of ice melting and spend my time doing something fun indoors. Like quilting, for instance. I finished my log cabin top yesterday, and here it is in all its glory. My two Honey Buns yielded 51 blocks. I might have managed to scrape together a few more from the scraps, but not as many as three, which would have been the next usable number, for a 6 x 9 layout. I was quite happy to stick to the 7 x 7 block layout I had in mind originally though, and chose an off centre barn raising layout.  The light/dark divisions might be a bit blurry here and there, but it doesn't really mater, does it? I just split the rolls in two with the lightest strips in one pile and the darkest in the other, and one of the reds for centre pieces, but since some of the fabrics have large patterns, some of the darker ones might look light in some areas and vice versa. I think I might do the quilting with white thread in the light areas and brown or green in the dark areas to emphasize the contrast, though.

My task this morning was constructing the backing. I used the two leftover blocks here. The larger areas are from a lovely, red, christmassy paisley. It looks a bit pink here, but the background is really a dark red which goes well with the red in the blocks. Some polka dots in white/red, green/white and brown/teal and some more greens complete the picture. So that's the backing done. I need to prep my batting (I always prewash) before layering, so that won't happen today. I have another top to piece, however, so stay tuned, there's more rain tomorrow...