Full Swing

I love the way this quilt turned out! I saw this quilt a year ago on Rachel Griffith's blog. I loved the pattern, and colors of the quilt, so cheery, so bright. AND Rachel shared the pattern for free at the Fat Quarter Shop. So I printed out the pattern, ordered the fabrics (minus the border fabric and backing) and it sat in my closet for a year! This spring got closer and I thought 'I really should make that quilt, it will look great on the couch and help bring sunshine and light into our living room' but I never did get around to making it. So I decided, 'I have lived without this beautiful quilt for this long, I really don't NEED it.' Therefore....it will soon be living with my aunt and new uncle in their home after their wedding this Saturday. :)
Lee and I were honored to be one of their host couples as well, thankfully the sunburn from camping last weekend is gone so I won't be bright red in my dress. You might remember the little gifts I made for the bridal shower with the same fabric. They loved those gifts and I am sure they will love this quilt to go along with them.
Here is a view of the back...

I used the left over fabric from the quilt top and binding, plus some Kona white. These three colors have become a new favorite color combo for me!

 

For the quilting I used clear Sulky thread for two reasons: a. I ran out of white and did not have time to get more, b. (and this is the main reason) I wanted the white swirls (for lack of a better word) to appear to be floating on the green. I didn't want to use white thread because that would stand out on the green, and green thread would stand out on the white, plus I didn't have enough time to quilt with both. If you have never quilted with clear thread before, it isn't too bad, Sulky thread quilts much like cotton thread, but it is HARD to see where you have been when quilting. I could only quilt this quilt in the late afternoon when the sun shines through our patio door, and even then I had a hard time. 

Here is a photo of the label for the new couple:

I use printable fabric from JoAnns to print my labels, and then write the name of the quilt with fabric markers.I like printing my little owl and name/location/year, but the past two labels I have made have become discolored, so when I run out of this stuff I am going to look for something better.

While making this quilt I learned something new about piecing half square triangles. Maybe this is something well known to other quilters but I thought I would share it, for those of you that don't know.

Cut a square to 7/8" bigger than you want your finished half square triangle block to be. So for these blocks, finished they are 5" so the squares are 5 7/8"- 5 1/2" unfinished block.

Place two squares that you want in your finished block right sides together and draw a diagonal line down the middle of the top square, to make your triangles:

Pin these squares together and sew a 1/4" to the left of your line. Then rotate the block and sew a 1/4" to the right of your line.

Then cut the fabric on the line you drew:

Open, press and you have two half square triangle blocks:

I thought this method was very quick and all my blocks turned out perfect.

I love this quilt! I almost want to curl up with it tonight while Lee and I finish our Harry Potter marathon....but I won't. Anyone else as excited as I am to see the final movie?! I almost re-read the books one last time before the movie tomorrow, but I don't want to be disappointed with anything they leave out.