…dropping an F BOM…

…where F, of course, stands for FINISHED! And I think this one might be one of my most exciting finishes of the year. Allllll the way back in 2012, I joined some friends in the Fat Quarter Shop Designer Mystery Block Of The Month. The quilt was designed to be a single bed sized quilt, featuring the Vintage Modern range by Bonnie & Camille which was my favourite range at the time, so it was a no-brainer to join in.

For the first couple of months, I stockpiled the blocks, and did a big cutting session for four blocks in one go. Then, in the way of these things, life gets in the way, and the packages started piling up. I managed to catch up a bit at quilt camp 2012, and then some more over the holidays. From there I would keep up, I told myself, or at least, that was the plan. 2013 instead became a blur of pregnancy and newborn sleeplessness. Finally, in 2015, it was time to get stuck in, and I dedicated quilt camp that year to getting the blocks done.

I didn’t love the original layout, so I mucked around with a few options, but in the end decided on a diamond style layout with some borders. The kits were very generously cut, and I had plenty of fabric left over, so was actually able to take it from a single bed sized quilt to a very cozy 84″.

The quilt go basted, and I started quilting the centre block…and it started bubbling. Quilt camp 2017 saw me unpicking the quilting I has done, and back into the box it went, when I got frustrated. It came with me in 2018, and never got touched. I didn’t even bother taking it in 2019. Then, 2020 happened. Covid came along and broke my brain, and I started finishing all the things. The time came where I had to front up to the inevitable – the next logical project was the BOM quilt.

Once I started the process of quilting and finishing it, I was all in. I quilted in the ditch around the blocks. The centre got a FMQ stars and loops pattern, with a little false start when the bobbin didn’t want to roll properly and I needed to unpick some dodgy tension. The aqua inside borders I quilted in a fan pattern, and a switchback for the outside. The red border is a plain stipple, and the cream borders? Well, what else would I do for a 2012 but 2012’s biggest FMQ trend – feathers.

I love the finished quilt, though of course, like all things, I can see things I would tweak, and blocks I would move around, but it is DONE, so I will call it a win. I am so so pleased to see it done, finished, and ready for use.