Berry Patch

Hours and hours of grading, and then I couldn't take it anymore; threw my down jacket on top of my pj's and shoved my bare feet into my snow boots, grabbed my camera and "Berry Patch" -- recently completed after a Sunday frenzy of hand-quilting (a first) --  and marched outside...on one of the coldest days of the year.  I guess I really needed a break!

I'm sure I looked like a madwoman, but I just adore this little quilt!  I do!!

It took me by surprise, this one -- started on a whim (wanted to make some "granny square" blocks), and also with the idea of a personal challenge (how to make that Kona plum work as a background colour for a stash low in purple?), and with no clear end in mind, I grew to love this project more and more over the past few days. [ETA: The granny square blocks were made from some of the 2.5" squares I had chopped up a couple of months ago, from pieces in my scrap bags. So while this project didn't make much of a dent in my stash, it did make a tiny one in my scrap collection!]

The addition of Annie's Seed Catalogue as the sashing fabric was the turning point for me.   

As you can see, it is pretty grey day here, with just a little sunlight peeking through, but I was finally able to capture the colour of the "plum" solid.

One of my favourite stashed prints --stashed no longer! -- "Viva" by Alexander Henry, is the backing fabric. Those great, big, juicy white-and-grey Michael Miller polka dots are the binding fabric.

If this were a few inches smaller I could enter it in the "Modern Mini" quilt challenge that wraps up today.  But, alas, it is 41 x 41" so it remains my own private challenge quilt.  Maybe it's better that way.

Armed with fresh packs of nice sharp embroidery needles and a stash of perle cotton, I think there's more hand quilting in my future.

In the meantime, rest assured that the perle cotton will be put to good use.