Autumn Steps

If you've paid any attention to my Fabric Usage posts this year, you may have noticed that during this Covid-time, I'm been slowly curating a stack of fabrics with an admittedly, unknown purpose other than to use them together. 

[Top to bottom: Ruby Star Society Warp & Weft Chore Coat in Persimmon + Diamond Textiles Crossed in Mustard + Art Gallery Maker + C+S Dusk Till Dawn Moonchild in Grass + Kona Grellow? + Carolyn Friedlander Harriot Textured in Roasted Pecan Yarn Dyed + Essex Yarn Dyed Homespun in Roasted Pecan + Giucy Giuce Redux String Theory in Tangerine + Ruby Star Society Speckled in Earth Metallic + Carolyn Friedlander Architextures Crosshatch in Tangerine + Kona Tigerlily + Ruby Star Society Spark in Butterscotch + Kona Cedar]

After all these months, I finally have a quilt!

It took me a while to decide on a quilt design, and even though I liked the traditional courthouse steps I chose, as the piece grew larger, I briefly considered cutting it into quarters and mixing things up a bit. But I persevered, and now that it's done - measuring about 72" square - I'm really glad I persisted.

Strips of fabric measured from 1" to 4 1/2" wide finished, chosen willy-nilly from my stack as I sewed along. I'd cut a few strips, sew a few, then evaluate and see what I wanted next. 

I found a 3-yard length of an oldie but goodie in my stash for the beginning of a pieced back - Meteor Shower from Tula Pink's The Birds & the Bees line. To that I added what I had left of the Crossed in Mustard, and what I don't think was Kona Pink Flamingo, but very close to it. For quilting thread, I also had a very perfect Aurifil 50wt #2320 [Light Toast] on hand, and it ended up suiting every fabric of the bunch.

After having trouble sourcing my 'normal' Warm & White batting, I've been using Quilter's Dream Cotton in the Select loft these last few months, and I think this is the largest quilt I've used it in. For quilting, I hauled out my back-up machine, just to use its easy-going serpentine stitch, which made the process pretty quick, especially since I just followed seam lines in one direction, so the range in density resulted in a drapey and cozy quilt. 

Between quilting less densely than usual and deciding to throw the quilt in for a quick wash and dry, as the photos show, I've got a much more crinkly finish than my norm. And I love it! Somewhere along the construction process, I'd decided this one would be a perfect new autumn throw for our own home, so the crinkles and cozy are totally fine by me.