The group had no guidelines on size or design. Just think outdoors and create. I am blown away with their amazing blocks and was so excited to put them all together. Excited and a bit nervous. Bringing all those blocks together all improv style is a bit out of my comfort zone. I kept wanting to sketch it out on graph paper. But Barbara kept encouraging me and I managed to get the top put together without having to draw it out. Yippee for trying new things!!! I wanted all the blocks to stay obe on the actual bed, and not hanging over the sides of it, so once they were all pieced the quilt was a little long and skinny. So I added some skinny borders on the top and bottom and some wide borders on the sides to make it queen size.
Not surprisingly, it was a little hard for my little symmetrical mind to be okay with different size borders. I always have to push myself to do things Asymmetrical. But I kept reminding myself that I did it for a reason and it was going to be okay. And when it came time to quilt, I decided I needed to take advantage of those extra wide background space :) So I made some templates, traced them in my disappearing marker, and quilted my Grandparents Names into their sides of the bed ;) And suddenly, I wasn't so stressed about the different size borders, I loved it!!!
And speaking of quilting . . . I really had some fun with this one. I used my favorite 402 Pearl So Fine Thread by Superior Threads on the whole thing. Isn't it awesome how it creates such a perfect compliment to the background and totally blends in with the blocks ;) For the background, I really got into this one and had so much fun. I think this might qualify as "quilt grafatti". There are swirls, paisleys, leaves, pebbles, curly cues, and tendrils.
And on the blocks, I used arches in all of the squares and triangles, and then some basic meandering and outlining to highlight the character blocks.
I used ribbon candy and just simple back and forths in the blocks made of strips. I just love the way it creates so much movement in the blocks.
I could seriously show you every block in this quilt . . . they are all so awesome. But I will finish with this one and not make this the longest post ever ;) I made sure this winded up in the center of the quilt, because it just summed up my Grandparents so perfectly. Love it!!
Linking this finish up to Sarah's and Amanda's :)