Wren's Nest: 2016 Finished Quilts - Basket Case

This is another Thimbleberries BOM Club. Yes, I have participated in Thimbleberries clubs, programs, and kits from 2000 to 2008, eight years. That was the period of time, I was working, making really good money (before the downturn of the economy), and buying lots of things online, while sitting in a hotel room with nothing else to do. I also think it was a way to stay connected to my hobby, since I didn't spent much time at home. I traveled about 320+ days a year, and I needed something to keep me grounded and attached to my quilting hobby.

Thus, this is the big quilt for the 2004 BOM Club. It was called Basket Case, and has 12 different basket blocks to make up the quilt. There were also 12 additional projects / kits available using one of the 12 basket blocks. I have done a lot of those, because I could get a block done each month, and sometimes took the time to get one of the 12 additional projects done. There are six pictures of the individual projects on my finished tab here, if you want to scroll down towards the end of the pictures. Be gentle, this was when I was still learning to quilt, and my work is a bit wonky, especially the machine quilting I did on the projects.

I am a sucker for basket blocks and quilts, and wanted to get this one done. I did work on the blocks during 2004, off and on, but as my traveling escalated towards 2008, lots of projects like this were put away, not to mention, we moved five times between 2000 to 2008, and twice since 2004. So, it got packed away and I finally dragged it out in 2016 to finish. I sewed the blocks together and added the border. This is how it turned out after coming back from the long arm quilter and bound.

Looking at it all laid out flat, it is a very different completed top. for one, the sashing is blocks of nine patch and a variation of flying geese, and some tone on tone green and red blocks. And, if you notice the outside top and bottom border (green) is different from the outside left and right border (blue). Then, the top and bottom inside border is a block (red at top) and appliquéd flowers (bottom). All around this quilt, the layout is very different from anything I have ever done.

The following pictures are close up of the individual basket blocks.

Here is one of my most used projects from this quilt. This is a bag made using the above quilt basket block. This bag is 20" X 20" and holds a lot of stuff. When I was traveling, I was able to carry hand work, my purse, and anything else, and was counted as one carry on. It has been well used over the years, and has held up wonderfully!