Crown Royal-down the home stretch...

I have been working on this for the past 2 days.  I will not put any other quilt on the frame until I have finished piecing this quilt.  It will be next.

This quilt was commissioned by some very good friends of ours.

I have been working on it-off and on- for almost 2 years.  Mind you, we sold the farm in Idaho, moved to Ohio during this time....and I had a surgery....yada, yada..... 

These friends are headed out to visit us next month and spend a few days. Now, my goal is to have it on the bed when they get here!

Here are the finished blocks I am making from the bags.

I was able to create a way to use up all most all of the fabric in the bag and the gold braid to boot!

Here's how it works:

I cut off the drawstring casing and fish out the braid--taking care not to cut the braid because I will need every millimeter of it for the block.

I cut off the knot and fish out the braid

There is a 36" length of braid in each bag.

Here's what I end up with...when I get a dozen bags dissected, I iron everything and start assembling the blocks.

If I have cut the bag extremely carefully, I can get two 9.5 x 2.25 inch strips from the side length.

I need to cut the bottom curve off the front piece right where the width is 4 inches.

Sew the front to the back... 

Centering the words, trim this to 9.5 x 4 inches. 

Not much left of the bag and I am saving the chunk left from the back, I might use it later.

Here we are: the braid is stitched 3/4 inch in from the edge of the block making a nice frame.

I am getting close to my final number of 60 blocks this afternoon!