I'm fortunate to be blessed with a number of deep friendships. I don't take that for granted. The quilt that I'm showing off today was created in partnership with one of those bosom buddies: my friend, Vicki. Her quilt isn't quite finished yet so I'll show you that another day.
In between the holiday eating...
the baby snuggling...
and more eating...
I managed to sneak off for some quality time with this lovely I'm calling Fortunate Friends.
The pattern for this cleverly pieced quilt is called Good Fortune by Kate Spain and can be downloaded, free of charge here. Vicki and I began our friendship project over a year ago, and as mentioned before, only sewed on it when we were together.(That's our excuse for taking so long to complete it!)
I used the complete line of Flea Market Fancy by Denyse Schmidt, complimented by Kona snow for the background. The quilting design was fun to do and was really just a form of doodling with the sewing machine needle! I used an off-white 50 wt. Star thread.The quilting idea came from a book called Doodle Quilting by Cheryl Malkowski.
My favorite aqua Flea Market Fancy fabric, surrounded by Kona snow, makes up the simply pieced backing. My idea was to emulate one of the pieced squares from the front design.
There were quite a few 2.5 inch fabric strips left over from the front, so they became the obvious choice for the binding. I usually cut my binding strips at 2.25 inches wide, but I decided to just go with the wider width, thinking that the extra width would add more accent color to the back of the quilt.
I've used Flea Market Fancy in two complete quilts now plus several little girl's dresses and skirts. There is still some left in my stash so I'll be enjoying the fabrics for quite awhile longer! I admit to getting a little carried away with my online purchase!
One caution for outdoor quilt photography, especially with white ones, is that they might get a little soiled . When I removed Fortunate Friends from the wire fence, I spied a little bit of rust. Oops! Into the washer it went with a bit of Zout on the stain. The quilt is clean and perfectly crinkly now!
I'm looking forward to wrapping myself in this memento to friendship and enjoying it for many years to come. It's my hope that you have a good friend to share life's ups and downs with, as well.
Thanks for stopping by and viewing my blog about quilting and my creative endeavors. It's my online friends that keep me writing every week! You're the best!
