Final Quilt of 2009

While I've got a few projects in the works, this is my last finished quilt of 2009. Made entirely from my stash, and with several large scraps at that, I think it serves as a nice quilting culmination of the year.

I made the blue and green zig-zags using Amanda Jean's no triangle tutorial. I made a couple modifications -- I used 2.5 inch strips since that's what I had and cut 4.5 inch squares from the sewn-together strips.

 

I also reoriented the zig-zags vertically, with some white on either side, in part because I wasn't sure how long the zig-zag lines would be when finished. I had intended to place the zig-zags off-center, but they stretched out wider than I realized they would, so I added just a bit of white to both sides.

This quilt started with the backing. I had a little under a yard of these monkeys in my stash and I wanted to use it as a quilt back. I then looked through the rest of my fabric to decide what would coordinate well with it for the front. After collecting the blues and greens -- which are more pale than my usual bright color choices -- I thought I'd go with simple strips. But as I was falling asleep, I remembered the zig-zag tutorial I'd bookmarked several months ago. Upon waking in the morning, I settled on the zig-zags and went to work.

 

The binding presented another puzzle and another set of switched decisions. I initially thought of using purple or yellow to complement the back and add another color to the front. But I couldn't find a tone of either color in my stash that looked good. So I opted for the one zig-zag fabric for which I had more fabric -- the blue flowers with tiny orange dots. In terms of quilting, I followed the zig-zags, 1/4" off of the seams. As an experiment in zig-zaggery, this quilt performed quite well and I'll certainly use the no-triangle zig-zag method again. This quilt is now on its way to Kentucky, as a donation to the Mountain Baby Blankets, a project collecting and distributing blankets in poverty-stricken Appalachia.

And with that, Happy 2010!