2016 Quilter's Planner Sew-Along

I’m so excited to be participating in the 2016 Quilter’s Planner Sew-Along!  Hosted by Stephanie at Late Night Quilter, we will be making the Scrappy Picnic Plaid quilt, designed by Lee Heinrich of Freshly Pieced.  It is such a cute pattern, and I’m hoping it will eat up some of my scraps.
Projects like this are why I keep my fabric sorted by color.  My scrap bins will be put to good use on this one.
If you haven’t seen the Quilter’s Planner, check it out on Stephanie’s page.  I bought one last year, and I adore it.  I will admit – I’m a dinosaur who enjoys keeping track of life with paper and pen, rather than just on my phone.  It drives my tech-savvy husband crazy.  In addition to a very fine calendar system, the planner includes daily block patterns, design pages, project planner pages, and full sized quilt patterns.  It is really quite wonderful, and I’m hoping to put it to even better use next year.  I will confess, I haven’t made any of the patterns this year, but that is about to change.
These are the fabrics I will be using.  I plan to stick to the color plan in the original pattern.
To begin, I cut out the centers I planned on using.  Aren’t they lovely?
When selecting the medium and light tones, I used the centers to make sure the combos worked well together.
Here are all of the pieces, all cut out and ready for assembly.

The completed blocks are just stunning when assembled.  It’s almost a shame to sash them.
I get so excited as the blocks come together – I can’t make myself chain stitch them all.  I start out with organized piles, and then I think “I should really put one together, just to make sure it works.”  Then I chain pice a bit more, and finish another, and another…
All of the blocks.
Completed top.
And here is my buddy, giving me some much needed moral support as I baste this monster.
I’m almost done, and it is a good thing, because the deadline is almost here.  I have a day or two of quilting left, and the binding.  It is going to be glorious.  Of course, I have a complicated plan for my binding.  Let’s hope I don’t have any more bright ideas, or finishing by the 11th will be a challenge.