Eye Candy Quilt and a giveaway!

      Since the magazine is out today, I can finally reveal the quilt I made from a block I designed for the current Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks (Vol 15)(link here)  As you can read below, this was a quilt made in a very short period of time - but it turned out to be such a vibrant, happy quilt.   

     I started on a block for submission to the magazine right after Christmas.   I had an idea of small solid brights surrounded by yellow and white. I fussed with the four-patch colors to get the mix just right, making more bright little four-patches than I used.  

     I encased the little four patches in yellow and white, and put those blocks together to create the final 12 inch (finished size) block.  I called it Candy Box, since the little bright pieces (eye candy! )were boxed in.

The finished block.

     I submitted the block itself in mid-January, and put the little patches aside.  I had plenty of other projects to keep me busy!  This was my first time submitting a block, and I wasn't expecting much.    On April 15, I received a package of several copies of the soon to be published magazine! Surprise!

     This little beauty showed up last week - I love it!  My little block is on the bottom row!

        It dawned on me that I should have made a quilt with my block to post in conjunction with the publication.  I had less than two weeks to put together a quilt!  Luckily, I had a few four patches, some leftover strips, lots of bright Kona scraps and lots of yellow and white fabric!   I was on a roll.   No fussing here - I was cutting and sewing together little patches at random!  I used a different (brighter) yellow for the quilt than I used in my block, only because that's what I had on hand. 

The scraps

I strip pieced two colors, then cut those into blocks

So many little squares!   

I used copious quantities of yellow and white! 

       I  initially made 20 finished squares, thinking that a 48 x 60 inch quilt would be nice.   Going fast has its perils -  my seam ripper is never far from me when I sew! 

oops  

       I laid out the 20 blocks on my "design floor" both in a rectangle (4 blocks by 5 blocks) and also on point.

     I wasn't sure what to do for setting squares for the "on point" layout (and didn't have time to mull it over) but the rectangle quilt ( which would have finished at 48" x 60") wasn't large enough for a lap /nap quilt for me.  I decided to quickly make up another ten blocks, to make the quilt 60" x 72". couch!)

I couldn't resist a picture of my bright spring table runner with the bright quilt squares!  

     Since this was speed sewing for me, I didn't fuss over the color combos.  I did make sure that I didn't have the exact same color blocks next to each other, and I was very careful about the 1/4 inch seams, since the corners of the yellow and white are pretty obvious.  I love how the quilt top looks. Eye candy to me!  

     Once I finished the top, I had only a few days left to complete the quilting and binding.  No time for complicated quilting patterns or too much thinking!   I wanted something happy and decided to do a large loop all over the quilt.  I used white Aurifil on the top and in the bobbin and was able to quilt it in two days on my Tiara II.  

     I had a piece of  wide backing (Windham Fabrics Spackle) that fit and decided to bind in red because I had plenty of red fabric.   I like to finish the binding by hand, and use Clover clips to hold it all together.

      Here is a close-up of the big loopy quilting before washing.   I'll be doing this again!

     It was too windy for my usual full size picture by the lake, so my trusty quilt holder had to go to the front of the house.

     I have been experimenting with some more "artsy" photos of my quilts, which are useful when my trusty quilt holder is not available!

     I did wash and dry the quilt - especially since I had laid it on the concrete deck and on the beach! I used three sheets of Color Grabber to make sure the colors didn't run into the white!  (I had NOT prewashed much of the fabric)   This works so well.  I use it with every quilt! 

     The colors did not run, and the quilt turned out nice and crinkly!  I use Warm and White batting to keep the white crisp looking.   I am also very proud of how well the seams matched in this.  Usually that is NOT the case!   I think this block would look great with other colors! 

          I hope you enjoyed seeing this quilt as much as I enjoyed making it.  I will give away a copy of the magazine by Mother's Day.  Please leave a comment and I will pick a winner!
          I didn't make it into the official blog tour, but you can find that link here.

          Thanks for visiting!

Take care,
Gretchen