I agree :) - the square in a square adds a focus to the center of the block - very striking!

Your backing if fun and whimsical like the front - great colours!

quiltsRFun, your block is beautiful, and I love your backing fabric!

Julie, I think the owl fabric would be great.

I'm feeling quite discouraged, because I am losing my double diamond points when sewing my blocks together. I foolishly trimmed them for length without realizing I was trimming away my quarter inch seam.

If it's consistent you could call it a design choice. That's the way you intended it. Right?

I can't believe I'm saying this....but the skulls are definitely the most funky for your backing...go for it!

Either are perfect...though I'm partial to the owls.

Ready for a story? :-)
They are miniature pinschers or minpins. They are rescues I found online at a shelter north of Houston (I live south of Houston). They are an elderly pair that had always lived together and were left at a kill shelter for whatever reason. The staff had kept them for 2 months but their time was running out. I thought who else would want them and drove an hour to get them. One of my 20+ yo sons went with me for the ride...a friend had borrowed my dog crate and I thought he could hold them on the way home. When we got there a sign said any animal dropped off that day would be euthanized. So sad. The shelter was FULL and they were frantically trying to give cats away, too. My son decided then he wanted a cat. I'm thinking no way, but finally agreed thinking the ride home would be very interesting to say the least, but it was amazing - the two dogs slept on the back seat and the cat sat on my son's lap purring...not a bark, growl, or meow all the way home.
Max is the black male and is rather large. Xena is smaller and older, I think. I will have them three years this summer. :-)

Edited to add: The cat is the sweetest, best cat ever, and lives happily with my son and his two dogs.

Julie, I personally prefer the owls - I tend to light a lighter backing and think it's very cute, BUT I went back and took another look at the skulls and they did make me smile. :-)

Laura, I took our cat to school for show and tell when my DD was in grade school. The ride was on 1/2 mile and the cat peed on her on the way. We had to drive back home to give her a bath and fresh clothes.

sewplease, how wonderful for you fur-babies that you cared enough to go to that trouble to rescue them but I expect you feel now that it was all worth while as rescued fur-babies seem to know and reward you with such love and companionship, don't ask me how I know :) I smiled at the tale of the journey home as my much loved departed Muffin did exactly the same, they do find being in kennels so very stressful. May you have some more wonderful years together.

Sweet story, Laura. I'm so glad you could adopt them together and your son got a wonderful cat too! My daughter adopted a kitty from a shelter and she is the most personable and sweet kitty ever.

Laura: Thank you for sharing your story, love rescue stories. All my pets have been rescues, I wouldn't have it any other way.

This is such a nice group. :-)

QuiltingaddictUK, is that Muffin in your avatar? What a sweetie!

Yes it is, she loved that toy, I still have it, and it used to go to bed with us every night and of course was always with her when she did her hard job of quilt testing :)

I went to Joann yesterday to purchase the owl fabric for my quilt back. I didn't realize it was linear across WOF. Even though I made a smaller quilt 3x4, once I add get it all put together it will be wider than WOF. So I'm back to the drawing board! UGH! I think I'll just wait until it's put together and then try again. I should have time to work on it this weekend.

Here, finally, is my completed Grand Illusion top. It was made as designed, so will look pretty much like a lot of others! I bought this pretty geranium fabric for the back, but there wasn't all that much left on the bolt. So, I may use it pieced out with other fabrics (big pieces) or just find something else all together. For now, it was enough just to get the top done!

Very pretty, Sewbizgirl. And I like your backing fabric.

Everyone's versions are outstanding, thank you all for taking the time to share photos
mine are pieced, but am waiting on some boards so I can just use Rob's sawhorses and baste standing up..Imagine the concept :)

Sewbiz it looks beautiful ! I love the geranium backing hope you can use it in the backing .

Congratulations on a beautiful finish!
I am assembling blocks now and just finished #7 so 18 more to go.

This looks great! I'm piecing mine now. It will end up 3x4 and it's 3x3 now, not too much more! I'm debating about the pieced border, I didn't make enough pieces and am not sure I want to piece more. Maybe I can use them on the back. I need to look at some without the pieced border and see what I think.

Well, I ended up using that pretty backing fabric for a lap quilt I was finishing last night... and I figured out they are actually hydrangeas, not geraniums! It was perfect for the smaller quilt. So now I have to come up with something else for the GI back. No rush, tho. I have to make a wedding quilt for my son first....

Thanks for all your comments on my GI top!

Beautiful, sewbizgirl!

Yes, beautiful! Great job! (I knew they weren't geraniums but I couldn't bring up what they were. Hydrangeas, of course. Glad they found a home.)

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Can I sneak in a couple more rescue dog pictures? Lola (on top), sleeping. Hank, a ridiculous 80 lb. bassett who was aggressive when we adopted him but is MUCH nicer now. :thumbup:

All of the GI pictures are wonderful. Love the owl backing fabric (but my BFF quilt buddy would've picked the skulls!). Beautiful floral backing, too. I haven't worked on mine in weeks, but am going on retreat soon so I hope I get back to it.

what dolls, those ears! Our doxy pair are puppy mill rescues. Adults when we got them. Every day is training day and I despair of ever feeling they are socialized, but because it has been training day every day for 6+ years over all they are better behaved than any of our dogs we had from puppy size.

I've gotten my grand illusions on the table ready to be basted. Drug out my Celtic Solstice :) The only mystery I let become a UFO but I did have an excuse!

CindyA they are gorgeous don't you just love those ears and eyes to die for!

The dog pictures are wonderful and I love hearing rescue stories.
Hank is such a cutie! When I was in college a pair of bassetts lived behind me. They were named Nemo and Binkie. :-)

I'm over halfway done with the blocks. 13 finished so far...hopefully a couple more tonight..

I love Lola and Hank! What cuties...

Auntjo- i Love the back fabric! Do you know the name and manufacturer?

Our last basset, Otis, was a red and white. He lived to be almost 17 and was almost white at the end. Bassets do need to be trained everyday! My DH says they always forget what was taught them the day before - by choice. There was a nice red and white basset in the Westminster Dog Show last night. Can't help but love the bassets. We have had three.

Take a look at this Grand Illusion. I really like the colors.

http://inkythreads.blogspot.com/2015...-finished.html

quiltsRfun - I really like hers, too! She said she put flannel on the back. That would feel really nice. Thanks for sharing the link.

Sophie2, I agree with your husband. (It's by choice!!) When I fuss at Hank for getting into something he knows he's not supposed to he averts his eyes and walks past me pretending I'm not there. :D But his hair is SO soft.

Wow. That is really pretty.

I finished my Grand Illusion top last night! No pictures yet, I don't have a wall or floor big enough to show/hang it but will ask DH to help me get a pic this weekend.

Yes, please post pictures!! I still haven't gone past clue 2. I'm cleaning out my sewing space which is the dining room table, but hope to have some time to quilt later today.

Need some suggestions - I made my top 3x4 and put the yellow borders on forgetting that I might have to make adjustments for the pieced border. So now the pieced border squares won't fit exactly. I wasn't crazy about the pieced border to begin with as I hadn't made enough blocks and don't really feel like making more. SO.... how would you finish the top beyond the yellow borders AND could I use some of the pieced border squares for the back? This is my first real quilt so the creative juices aren't flowing yet. Thanks!

BTW, putting the borders on was painless after I got over the fear, LOL

You could use what pieced border squares you have made near the corners of your quilt and incorporate them into a plain border.

Our RR shows lots of different options for incorporating blocks into plain borders. http://www.quiltingboard.com/blocks-...ml#post6619179

You can adapt those borders by adding pieces or taking in seams, to get a fit. Or you can border just the top and bottom edges... You can certainly use the border blocks on the back, and I would if I had many left over! I made my quilt 4 x 5, rather than 5 x 5, and my border pieces still fit fine. I didn't have to do any adjusting, just had less of them on the 4 block sides.

As promised, here is my finished top. This is the largest quilt I have made to date and I think I will send it out to be quilted. Thanks to Bonnie Hunter for designing this challenge, I am glad I got it finished!
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Kathy it looks great !
I just received mine back from the lady that does my longarming on Monday have the binding sewn on but will have to wait for a picture maybe tomorrow depending on how I feel. I put a small outer border green border on mine ended up being 96 x 96 too big for me to do on my domestic sewing machine.