Quilting and Difficult News - Art Every Day Month - Day 30

My goal was to finish the Minnesota State Quilt by the end of Art Every Day Month. I'm pretty close: the quilt top is completed, the backing fabric is cut, and the batting is ready to go.

The quilt top is completed.

However, it looks like the project will extend into December a bit. I found out on Monday that my dad has less than six months to live. He is in a nursing home right now with late-stage Alzheimer's Disease.

Today, I meet with hospice staff to learn more about the services they provide and what I would like for my dad in these last few months of his life, and sign paperwork. (More about the journey that my dad is on is on this website that I'm writing: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/donrinkenberger/journal .)

At this point, in terms of the quilt, I used the scraps from the front of the quilt to patch together a backing. It is far from a "perfect" quilt...it is a "make do" quilt. My goal is to use up fabric that I have on hand, and create functional items in the process.

Fabric laid out for the backing.

The next step is to iron the fabric for the backing and then sew the pieces together. Then comes the layering of the three components (top, batting, backing), sewing them together, turning the quilt inside out, hand-sewing the edge; and adding yarn ties to secure the three layers in place.

If you would like to see the final version of the Minnesota state quilt when I post pictures of it, please follow the blog (you can do so to the right where there are icons of people already following this blog). 

I want to thank everyone who has visited and left comments about my work during Art Every Day Month. I've enjoyed visiting other blogs and seeing the incredible creativity of the participants. It's been an inspiring month...despite the many difficulties, particularly in the last few days!