HST Love

So when I left off with the FAITH Circle quilt process the other day, I was quilting. Now that's done, and she's all bound up ready to go! Here's the rest of the story . . .

For me, anyway, there is usually some inspiration when I start a project - another quilt, a picture or piece of artwork, something I've seen out in the real world. For this quilt, it was definitely other solid hst quilts that I had seen in blog-land.  I chose the three below to show my bee members the direction we were headed. {These quilts were made by fordhook1, CB Handmade, and Sew Katie Did - click a pic to see more info about each on flickr.}

The colors I had in mind were white, medium gray, and a variety of cool colors. I asked them each to make two 18 1/2" blocks, each made up of four 9 1/2" blocks and I posted photos of how these blocks could be placed in a variety of configurations. And it was fun to see how my bee-mates followed my lead!

When the blocks all came back to me, it was a bit of a puzzle deciding how to arrange them. I didn't over-think the process really, but I did choose to group the palest blocks with the purples on the backing to give the quilt more of a two-sided feel. Filling in around the backing blocks I used Leaves on Teal from Fruit Slice by Khristian Howell for Anthology fabrics. It really coordinated well overall with the mix of blocks. And in keeping it real, I really thought I had lined the front and back up perfectly, but as you can see, whether in quilting or whatever, there was a tiny shift. sigh

For quilting, I knew I wanted to straight-line,and started by following a zig-zag made by the lines of the blocks. You can see by the arrows in the photo below where I took my first pass. From there, I echo-quilted at 3/4" intervals. Where I had used light gray Aurifil 50wt for piecing, I switched to the same thread but in white for the quilting.

Then it was time to bind! After considering just about every color in the quilt, I opted for a scrappy look, which included KONA Turquoise, Chartreuse, and Emerald, along with Medium Gray and Coal. The finished quilt measures 54"x72".

So after a year and a half of sewing for FAITH Circle, I survived my first turn organizing and quilting our project, and I couldn't be more pleased.

Linking up with Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday, Finish it Up Friday, & Fabric Tuesday.