Scrappy Squares Quilt WIP

I really shouldn't be surprised that my scrappy squares quilt is taking a while to finish, but each day I think I'll make more progress than I actually do and then my anticipated completion date gets put further back.  I need to have some patience, but it feels I have spent a lot of time with these fabrics and this quilt and I want to make some new fabric friendships.

This quilt is about 62" square so my backing fabric was never going to be enough.  I wondered about putting two large strips down the sides but then I thought that I was missing a trick to get down more of my stash and scraps so I opted to piece together random fabrics of random quantities and I think it adds to the overall scrappy feel.

I haven't worked out the total amount of fabric I've used in this project, but both the front and back felt heavy when I was getting them ironed and basted, and this was very satisfying.  

There are 49 blocks in total and I have decided to quilt each block with a square with a coordinating thread.  At one point I had creative ideas of quilting different shapes (cats, carrots, a house) but then I reverted to my dependable quilting style.  I have now quilted 33 of the total number of blocks, so I am two thirds of the way through.

Tomorrow and Sunday I don't have much planned, so I am hoping that this will be finished then.  There is another Sew my Stash challenge over on Project Leasa taking place this month and it's a "Precuts Party".  At Christmas a friend gave me some 5" Liberty squares and I really want to get them sewn together now.  I feel I have not even got my glad rags on and yet everyone else is already sipping the champagne.    When this is completed I will be hitting that Tana Lawn and joining in the fun straight away.

How true to my word am I?  Here's my commitment - this will be finished and blogged about on Monday,  Ooh er - I've got to finish it now!