A Brick River

Several friends are pregnant and due this summer. I, however, will be without my sewing machine for almost 7 weeks. Thus I'm trying to make a bunch of quilts before I leave town so I have them ready to send off when I receive word of birth announcements or other such arrival notifications.

This one is loosely-based on Amy Butler's Lotus Brick Path quilt pattern. And by "loosely" I mean it uses bricks (3" x 6" for those keeping track at home, 2.5" x 5" finished) and they are sewn together in no patterned order.

When I first laid it out, I tried to keep all the pinks and browns separate so no two of the same fabric touched. I didn't like it that way. Instead I found myself drawn to a random assortment of brick steps standing out from the lighter fabrics.

Why a "brick river"? When I quilted it, I made wavy parallel lines across the brick strips (and occasionally veering from one strip into its neighbor). They seemed somewhat ricer like to me, at least like an illustrated river.

I backed the quilt with soft flannel -- yellow and purple (it may well go to an Eph friend's child). Or not, in which case the yellow and purple is still a nice combo.