Dead Simple, dead quick

Lynne at Lily's Quilts has hosted several quilt-alongs, and the current one is appealing in its simplicity: the Dead Simple QAL, which involves play with colour and the simplest patchwork construction of all -- loads of squares.
I have had lots of fun in Lynne's previous two QALs: last spring there were these giant dresdens --

 

which ended up being one of my favourite quilts to date --

 

Then I caught Lynne and Gayle's Hexalong fever last summer --

which produced lots of hexies, not all of which were destined to be part of the project --

and which morphed and transformed, more than once, until I finally settled on some kind of pattern (hexie constellations) --

and which has stalled been temporarily suspended --

although I am determined to get back to it, yes indeed.

Anyway, I didn't think I was going to participate in the DSQAL, but one evening little Frida and I were playing with a charm pack of Little Apples, and I started pulling fabrics from the stash.  Frida had veto power, and together we came up with a combination of fabrics which I cut into 5" squares, until we had a total of 81 (including the charm pack).

This weekend I sewed them up on the Featherweight, which gave me a chance to play more with that sweet little machine and also to produce something "dead simple" and also dead quick.

 

I think that ultimately this quilt will live at Grandma and Grandpa's house, where it can be used for naps (Frida's, not G'ma and G'pa's!).  

I love the Little Apples charms, and now have to decide (1) whether I want to enlarge this...I'm considering a narrow white border and a 4 - 5" colour border beyond that and (2) what to use for the backing fabric...Little Apples yardage? A red and white print?  Yummy flannel? If so, then what colour? Hmmm.

An added bonus to this layout is that it will allow me -- once the Janome is back in circulation -- to try Elizabeth's clever "Dogwood" free-motion quilting pattern featured this week on Oh, Fransson! -- without having to mark the quilt!

Yay.  Don't underestimate the value of instant gratification!

Finally, if I were more clever or more determined perhaps I could come up with some sort of word play on "dead simple" on this, the eve of Halloween.  But since I feel neither clever nor determined right now, I offer instead a Halloween-themed photo: "Kitty Love, with Pumpkins."

Boo!