Little Windows Quilt.

I'm excited to share a quilt finish with you, my first for the year! I think partly because it represents finishing off a run of custom orders, partly because there was a break in the heat last week which shot up my energy levels, and partly because I'm feeling more in a groove in general. I'm enjoying a little season of spare time (due to summer holidays) and sleep ins (thanks Tim!) before the baby comes in just two months!

Sometime last year, my cousin sent me a scrap pack of leftovers from this Monaluna Havana fat quarter pack. She had used the line to cover some canvas frames to decorate her daughters' room. I started to cut into it straight away, deciding one evening on the Impromptu pattern, and sewing up the blocks using white from my scraps.

Well, I learned that night that you don't try to match whites in the evening. The fluorescent light in my sewing room severely limited my ability to see shades of white (or any colour for that matter) and when I woke up in the morning the distinct cream with the crisp white of the Monaluna prints nearly made me cry!

Well, I have to tell you I was pretty tempted to forge ahead, but if there was one thing I'd been learning, it was to go with my gut, and to make something I was really happy with, rather than push for a finish. Over the next few months, I unpicked every block, cut strips of a much better white match, and sewed them back together again. I'm so glad I did.

I free-motion quilted with this chrysanthemum design. Oh my this is fun! And fast! And I love that the vast amount of white brings it out even more.

Backing was my biggest challenge. I actually want to give this back to my cousin, and with 2 little girls under 3, I didn't want to make it completely impossible for them to enjoy by adding even more white to the back. I decided on this Dear Stella print which I stashed for pinnies before my fabric fast. It's one of those prints in my "very favourite but very hard to use" category. There are times when I think it adds too many other colours to this simple quilt, and other times when I think it's perfect. I binded it with a mix of coral scraps because I didn't have enough of any one print. I have to say I was particularly happy with how these matched each other so perfectly.

I was so cranky with myself for forgetting to take this into the city when we were in there for dinner. A quilt with cars and scooters seems ill-suited to my messy garden and falling down fence. But even with a rise in energy, it appears I still have my pregnant brain. Oh well. Next time!