Italiano antico

You may remember I shared with you several weeks ago about the Old Italian blocks I was making, and the dilema I was facing that would complicate the trimming later. I liked my plan, and spent the next several weeks making blocks, piecing a top, and quilting. But when that quilting was done, rather than trimming at an angle as planned, I trimmed the quilt square and proceeded to bind it right up that evening. It was only as I was editing photos yesterday that I remembered!! OH WELL. Hubby and I really like it as it is, though, so I guess it was meant to be.

So more about the quilt, as it really was an enjoyable process. It all began with a stash of crossweaves, chosen in an intentional analogous color scheme. All of the 6.5" X blocks were made with them, using a tutorial by Barbara Black/@bbquiltmaker. They made up pretty quickly, and it was fun to mix up the colors. Then came adding background squares to create the layout, in a part of the original plan that I actually followed through with! I cut squares in Kona Rich Red, Cotton Couture Paprika, Cotton Couture Cherry, Kona Red, Kona Cosmos, Kona Cardinal, Kona Pimento, and Kona Flame; and you may be able to tell that the colors change left to right across the quilt top.

For the pieced backing, I chose primarily Kona Cosmos, the 2022 Kona Color of the Year. I had stashed a couple of yards for a project featuring it, but after piecing the Old Italian quilt top, I knew it was too perfect not to use here. And I love it. As you can see, I incorporated several other solids, and a striped scrap that also found its way into the front.

So for quilting, I chose three Aurifil 28wt threads, #2260 [Wine], #2265 [Lobster Red], and #2270 [Paprika]. They were used in an orderly fashion, but unfortunately with the bold colors of the quilt, their differences aren't really obvious in photos. 

But the diagonal grid quilting went very well, and using a 50wt #2250 [Red] (not shown) in my bobbin worked nicely too. I did find I needed to stitch just a tad slower than normal, but I like the result.

I intentionally left the Xs unquilted, and later went back in for some big-stitch quilting with Aurifil 12wt #2260 [Wine]. Perfect it's not, but I love the look, and it was a pleasure to stitch.

The quilt was bound with a traditional hand-sewn binding in Kona Rich Red, and measures 56" x 56". Even though it's not quite what I had in my mind's eye at the outset, it was a joy to make, and I'm more than happy with the finish. That's more than enough, I think.