Boxed in...and going crazy

I have a tendency to download and save quilt patterns that I like.  A lot.  Which in turn means that I have many quilt patterns available, but have not yet tried any of them.  You should also know that I'm a big procrastinator.  I just can't help myself sometimes- I'm lazy and not ashamed.

So before winter break, I was browsing through my quilt patterns folder and spotted "Boxed In" from the Moda Bake Shop.  The "ingredients" for this "recipe" call for border, backing, and binding fabric as well as a layer cake.

::insert blank expression::  Neither cat knew what I was talking about.

Layer cake, eh?  Fortunately, Moda's site has definitions for all these fancy schmancy packs of fabric.  A layer cake, boys and girls, is a package of 42 squares of fabric cut down to 10".  Of course, there are also honey buns, jelly rolls, dessert rolls, and turnovers to complete the sweet theme.

Cutting the fabric down

Sadly, I had no pretty layer cakes within my fabric collection, and it takes me over half an hour to get to my favorite quilt shop.  But what I did have was a fabric bundle from Jo Ann's that I bought at some point last year, plus some coordinating fabric.  Thus began the tedious job of cutting down all that fabric into 10" squares.  I'm sure it wouldn't have been so bad, but again...lazy

So I cut down the fat quarters into 5" blocks and hacked up a few yards of light and dark brown into uneven sashing to go around each one.  Then the sewing marathon began.

Stitched block

I sewed blocks for what seemed like days.  Let's do the math:

25 blocks x 5 pieces of fabric = 125 parts

Maybe that's not a lot.  I don't know.  I'm new to this.

I jumped back and forth between assembling the blocks themselves and stitching together the rows.  I just can't focus on the same task for too long.

Laying out blocks and rows

I used post it's to keep my rows in order.  I sketched out a plan of the blocks before cutting so I could see what colors go where and how many I needed of each.  I wanted to make sure they were evenly scattered throughout the quilt top.

I also adjusted the pattern slightly before beginning my own project.  The original design called for smaller inner and outer borders.  My version resulted in an inner border measuring 2" after sewing and an outer border of 5".  I also added corner blocks to the outer border using leftover fabric from the center of the squares.

Finished quilt top

I'm stuck now.  The backing has been pieced and my sandwich is pinned and ready to be quilted, but I just don't have it in myself to start that process.  I want to free motion quilt the top, but I'm not very good at it and I'm afraid of messing up.

Let's be honest.  I'll probably just chicken out and stitch in the ditch.

(I took these pictures with my phone.  That's why they don't look so perty.)