Traffic Jam!

Hi, everyone!  Thanks for stopping by.  Today, I'm cramming a few week's worth of progress into one post.  I decided to sew along with Pat Sloan, making her Traffic Jam! quilt.  First, I tested the block out to see if I'd like it ...

Yes!  Totally enjoyable!  The blocks went together very quickly!

I worked strictly from my 2.5" scrap basket and grabbed a bunch of 5" squares from a "charm square exchange" I did years ago. Not all of the 5" squares were "my" 5" (everyone cuts differently!), so resizing them all to 4.5" for this project was perfect!

Not knowing where I was going at first, I just kept making blocks ...

... and they stacked up in no time.

I stuck to blues - I've always loved a blue & white theme!

For the sashing, I went back into my 2.5" scrap basket and was able to go pretty far that way.

I did have to cut into some yardage eventually -- since the project kept growing. LOL. At least it's all from my "stash"; I feel great about that!

I got to work sewing the sashing on:

And just kept going!

After I got the rest of the sashing and the cornerstones on, I auditioned a couple different blues for a border.  I'm not usually fond of borders, but I thought this quilt really needed at least one.  I decided on this sort of denim blue:

I eventually pieced those (the quilt got a bit ... large), pressed them nice and straight (you can see one of the sides in the second photo on yesterday's post), then sewed them on.

I must say, using that long metal ruler to make sure my long borders were straight as I pressed made for nice flat, non-wavy borders!!!  YAY!

I eventually pieced a backing, then basted everything together.  Here it is, all set for the quilting:

I treated myself to some new King Tut quilting thread - White Linen.  It is perfect for my Traffic Jam!  I put one line of quilting in, just to test things out.  It's going to be lovely.

Thanks for reading - I'll keep you posted on my progress!

KZK