WiP - A herd of projects on the go... and a little surprise!

I'm pleased to say it's been a busy quilting week - even with the ridiculous amount of Olympic coverage I've been watching. Thank goodness for live streaming on CBC! If you're dedicated enough to read this entire post, there might be something in it for you!
Much progress has been made on Young B's Oh Deer quilt. Last week, I finished the blocks. I was just having so much fun seeing it coming together that I couldn't stop. I so need a permanent design wall... it's so much more effective than the design floor!

 And all sewn together... chillin' on the clothesline!

When I was cutting the brown strips, I got a little overzealous. All that stuff on the left wasn't needed for the quilt top... yikes!

I don't use much of brown anymore, so I was concerned about having all those strips hanging out in the stash. An idea was born - why not a pieced back? I opted to use the never-ending strip technique that I've fallen in love with lately. It's not the best pic, but it's -24C with windchill today! So cold that my camera battery decided it was done!

 

Pieced backs are so great, if I do say so myself! I have a tendency to hoard fabric left from special projects (aren't they all special?), but pieced backs have me using them for a good purpose. It also means I don't have to spend as much on yardage for the back. Win-win!

Also this week, I finished basting most of my Olympic Diamonds and got to piecing. Quatchi, Sumi, & Miga tried to take credit, but they don't even have thumbs... how could they possibly stitch all those together?! It is nice to have their company while I overdose on luge, ski jumping, and half-pipe competitions.
I also spent some time this week quilting my Skill Builder BOM Ruler block. I have another lesson coming soon, so I wanted to be up to date. Still have the Spool block to quilt, but I'm making progress! First up, I bought a pile of thread...

Then used it to follow the quilting instructions to the letter - I can take no credit for creativity! I do love to pebble!

Then the numbers... I printed them onto full page labels, cut 'em out, stuck 'em on, and quilted around them.

 Next up, wavy lines to fill the yellow. I managed to stop and start very little.

And here it is all finished... out in the snow. Don't worry. It was only there for a moment! But, here's the burning question - can you spot the error? It's okay if you can't... the designer and her two testers didn't catch it before the block went live!

Phew! That's a lot of quilting... and there's some I saved for another day! I did promise you a surprise, didn't I? Well, today is.... gulp... my birthday. Generally, I keep that a secret (something about not liking it when children sing AT me!). But this year, I'm switching it up. In honour of my birthday ☺, you might get a present. Remember these?

If you're observant, you might notice that I made ten of those when I needed only nine for my Bee mates. Leave me a comment telling me what you'd put in it and you might win my first ever giveaway! If you're a no-reply blogger, don't forget to leave me an e-mail address so I can track you down! Giveaway closes on Saturday, February 15th at 8pm Atlantic Standard Time!  Giveaway is now closed. :(

Happy birthday to me!

J

P.S. AND I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced's WiP Wednesday!