Blue Squares Quilt

Hanging out at the beach

Love it

It has rained here for a couple days and there are more storms forecast for this afternoon and coming week. I took advantage of a quick break in the clouds this morning to photograph my most recent project.
The Blue Squares quilt came together rather quickly this summer. I was looking for a project that would showcase many fabrics and give me a place to practice my hand-quilting skills. The fabric was sourced from several places. Many of the larger squares are from a 5" charm pack that I bought while in Paducah, KY. That pack was from the Moda collection called Feed Sacks: True Blue by Linzee Kull McCray. I used almost all of the fabrics from that pack except for one floral pattern that had a significant amount of green in it. The second largest source of fabrics was from the basket of feed sack scraps I picked up in Missouri this summer. There were many scraps that I could use for the medium and small squares. A couple of scraps had enough samples that I was able to sew the pieces together and then cut out one larger block. The last place I pulled blue/white/small amount of red combination fabrics from was mom's stash. From there I included a couple old collar shirts a few older blue and white fabrics.

Feed sack scraps from Missouri 

I was able to find a good variety of patterns. This quilt incorporates solids, florals, geometric prints, plaids, and my favorites--paisleys and polka dots. Blue and white are the foundational colors with splashes of red thrown in. There are a few places where yellow, green, or black managed to sneak in, but I don't find that too distracting to the eye. Some of the old feed sacks are very worn or stained and a couple needed patching or stabilizing, but I love the added texture and history they contribute to the project.

Sewn together on my Bernina 1230

This quilt was basted on my living room floor and I had plenty of supervision. Sometimes I'm surprised I get anything completed. I had a large piece of white backing available, so that became the backing.

Both cats 'holding down fabric'

Basted with safety pins and contemplating quilting designs

Stewie assessing the frame stability

When quilting, I started by outlining the 144 small squares in the middle. Then I moved out to the medium size squares. These were also outlined, but they got an additional X through the center. Finally, I broke from all the straight lines in both the piecing and the quilting and did concentric rings in the four corners. The rings do not meet on the sides and there is one column of blocks on each side that has stripes quilted parallel to the binding. The binding is white to finish off the frames of the outer squares. The finished quilt is about 43" square. 

Quilting on back

 I think I have looked at the back of this quilt almost as often as the front. I am so pleased with how the quilting turned out.

Quilting shows off center squares

Photos at the beach were a bit sandy, but a nice change from my now water-logged garden.  The beach was not crowed with people, but I did get to chat with a duck and her ducklings for a bit.

Ducks on the beach came to check out the photo shoot

Storm clouds in the distance