School is back in session and I have significantly less time for my favorite hobby. This means that I have to plan out my projects way further in advance. I'm going to gloss over the fact that it's almost fall and my fall projects aren't done and focus on how prepared I am for winter! I finished up this warm and comforting quilt with plenty of time to spare.
This finished product is a direct result of some serious midnight quilting therapy. At some point in our lives, I think we've all had so much flowing through our heads that we just can't shut it off when it comes time for bed. There were a solid two weeks where I couldn't sleep at night because of all the worries and to-do's going on in my busy head. Instead of gazing at the ceiling while the minutes and hours ticked by, I made my way to my sewing room for some quality time with my favorite machine. There is something so calming about the repetition of cutting out 195 squares and then sewing them all together. In the mornings, my husband Luke would look over at my progress to determine what time he thought I'd be getting up.
I pulled all of the fabric from my overflowing scrap bin. As I look at the quilt now, I love how I can see bits and pieces of a half dozen other quilts.
It was so fun to lay out all of the squares and play around with different arrangements. I tried alternating colored rows with neutral rows and completely random everything but ended up loving the alternation between neutral fabrics and colored fabrics.
Since the design was simple squares that weren't too tiny, I decided to press all of the seams open. It does take a little more time than pressing them to one side but the result is worth it. Everything laid so flat and all of the whites look even.
After I had the top pieced together, I took a trip to the fabric store. Luke was along with me and he seemed almost as invested in this quilt as I was. We were both pulling fabrics for the backing and each narrowed down to our favorite...but our favorites weren't the same. So, we asked some poor unsuspecting shopper to give us her opinion. She very confidently chose the fabric in Luke's hand. He was probably a little too pleased with himself...but they were right! The busy snowflakes in muted reds and greens totally ties the quilt together.
I kept the quilting super simple. I wanted the sharp corners and lines to shine in their own right. Fancy quilting is fabulous, but sometimes keeping it simple can be just as effective.
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