My inspiration when choosing the fabrics for this quilt was definitely autumn in an Australian forest. While we do have some trees that are deciduous many of our native trees and plants are evergreen, so while there are patches of orange, yellow and red, there is still a strong element of green.
You can see my previous posts for this quilt here, here and here. This quilt was a first in lots of ways for me. My first bigger-than-a-baby-quilt, my first time pulling fabrics from different lines and designers (rather than a single line), my first time using a quilt-as-you-go method and my first time using improv piecing.
My fabric choices for this project were browns, greens, oranges and golden yellows - which happen to be some of my favorite colours as well as shouting 'autumn' to me.
The sashing is mostly Kona ivory - but I ran out and only had enough to sash 13 blocks (whoops!), and didn't have time to order more before the deadline to get this finished... so I used Kona PFD for the remaining 3 blocks and the sashing between the blocks.
I quilted each square (around 19 1/2" square each) in a spiral outwards from the centre block, following the lines of the wonky log cabins.
For some reason, my camera doesn't like the orange-white spotty print and it appears to be much more pink than orange in these shots...
For the back, I had about 3 yards of a print from Amy Butler's Daisy Chain so I cut 8 backing squares from that, and then pulled various shades of yellow-green from my stash for the remaining 8 backing squares. At the basting and quilting stage I hadn't planned the layout of blocks, so layout for the back of the quilt was a mystery until I'd finished putting it together. But I actually think I like the back more than the front...
I love how the quilting looks on the back, and I think the coal-grey binding and sashing works really well with the greens and yellow-greens (I am completely in love with grey at the moment!)
The finished quilt measures about 80" square. I will definitely be sticking to baby quilts for a while after wrangling this one!
This is my entry into the Celebrate Colour competition over at Stitched in Colour.
I really love this quilt. The random back is fantastic and makes both sides equally appealing. I also like the spiraled/squared off quilting. GOOD JOB!
ReplyDeleteI love this quilt. I have been fantasizing about this type of pattern and making it QAYG. I like the idea of making the outside borders of the block and the sashing (to hide the seams, right?) the same color. That solves one of my worries. Do u have a reference for the QAYG method u used?
ReplyDelete@Dawn
ReplyDeleteThanks Dawn! The link to the tutorial I used is in my previous post. It is really straight forward and worked well. I would have matched the outer borders and sashing (as you say to hide the joins) but I ran out...
@SuzRas
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Wow, each one of those blocks is so beautiful. I like how you varied the size of your center blocks. It's so pretty!
ReplyDelete@Rachel Hauser
ReplyDeleteThanks Rachel! It's being well loved as a giant lap quilt by my three littlies :) - we can all snuggle under it!
This is so beautiful Jess - and perfect for an Aussie autumn:)
ReplyDelete