After a month of hard work I finished my first self-designed quilt! It's a playful baby/toddler quilt with big swatches of color and since I didn't hate it when I was finished, I consider it a huge success! River's school had an evening out for the grown-ups, complete with an auction to help support our search for a new space. This was my donation to the cause. I finished the binding Friday night, took some pictures Saturday morning, and handed it over that afternoon. I didn't get to enjoy it in the house very long, but with two cats and two little kids, that's probably for the best.
The auction was a big success and the quilt is going to a lovely family, so I'm very happy.
As you can see, the pattern is pretty simple, but with just about a month to complete it, I wasn't going to attempt constructing a ton of complicated blocks. I wanted to simulate a rainbow, but with a loose, modern interpretation (the deep purple on the bottom and binding photographed really dark, but it's not nearly that close to black in person). Since I was able to use fabrics from my stash I didn't have to spend any extra money on it. (Which is really great considering how much money I spent bidding on other items last night! I blame the free-flowing wine.)
I love the back! I had just enough of the ecru fabric to finish - thank goodness! The quilting was perhaps the most difficult part of the whole project. Each block is quilted in matching thread, so up close there's a subtle rainbow affect on the back too. The ecru sashing is quilted in parallel lines and all of the other blocks are done in concentric rectangles. I marked it all out with chalk before I took it to my machine, and getting those lines to match up was quite a feat!
After a month of sewing exclusively for other people I'm ready for a project that stays in this house! I recently picked up some fantastic Japanese fabrics and an adorable dress pattern, so I think Lila has something coming her way in the near future. :)
