Posts, that is. Quite out of the norm for me these days, isn't it?! But I couldn't resist showing off a bit!
I bustled out to the closest LQS yesterday morning, and spent an hour or so with the pieced top spread out over a couple of tables, interviewing fabrics for the border and binding. The binding was an easy pick for me, but the binding took a couple of tries. I finally ended up with this combination:
The black print for the border and the red for the binding. Many thanks to Sharon, at Patches & Stitches, for all her help (and putting away all those bolts)!
Like I could walk into a quilt shop and *just* get what I came for. I spotted the Christmas fabrics and, with a very specific project in mind (more on that later in the month...no, definitely not tomorrow), I scooped up these lovelies:
I'd say my August stash report is blown, but since I've got a top finished, that'll take care of that!
And . . . because I just realized I didn't have an 8.5" square ruler . . .
I can't believe I made all those blocks way back when, without an 8.5" ruler! Was I mad??? I threw in a package of my favorite redwork/embroidery needles, too.
After a quick stop at the grocery store (Todd has to eat, even if I could quilt through dinner), I hurried home to get BUSY!
I'm so, so pleased with how this turned out!!! Here's the original pattern and what we were going for (20 of us participated in this block swap):
She used jewel tone batiks, which are really pretty, but our group agreed to use Civil War prints and shirting for the blocks (this is when I realized how beautiful and rich CW prints were and how much I love them). Her pattern calls for 48 blocks. Here's my finished top with 40 blocks:
Yup, I'm totally in love with this! The four corner blocks make it, for me . . .
And I did something new-to-me . . . I mitered the corners of the border around the corner blocks!
You really can't see it, but I think that's part of the charm. It really does make the block look like it's floating. Mitering the corners wasn't too tough, once I figured out how to do it. I will say that I was glad it was only happening in one corner! LOL! I used a video tutorial by Penny Halgren to help me figure it all out.
There are so many things I could name this ... but when I texted a picture of it to my son, he commented how striking it was to him -- that it reminded him of pixels of color, all coming together to make a picture. Since he's a graphics design guy, that makes sense. I think I may gift this to him and call it Pixelated! :)
Now I just have to decide how to quilt it . . . but that can wait. I just had to have the top pieced for Thursday's show & tell!!
:)
