Two Perfect Things. . .

There are two things that I think are perfect. Picnics. And, circles.

Picnics are romantic for two and awesome for many. It’s just you and those that you love sitting close  to each other and nature eating yummy food (picnics make all food yummy) having nothing better to do than connect with each other.  What can be more perfect than that? And then you add in picnic baskets and picnic blankets and. . . oooooh, I just can’t take all the perfect yumminess!  So, I’ve been dreaming lately (literally and figuratively) about Picnic Quilts. Here where the circle enters.

So, rectangular quilts were made for beds. And the shape of a quilt should reflect the use of the quilt. What would be more perfect for a picnic than a Circle Quilt? Yes, you heard me right, a Circle Quilt. People sitting and eating seem to fit very easily within the space of a circle. Plus there’s something that the circle the signifies togetherness and inclusion and love. OK, maybe I’m reading into this a little but, a circle picnic quilt just seems right to me.

So, here’s my first version of a circle picnic quilt. I wanted to merge the concept of the traditional picnic quilt with my circle picnic quilt concept. So, I pieced an assortment of 6″ squares – trying to mimic a random pieced traditional picnic top. And then I cut it into a circle! And, what do you get when you add two perfect things together – twice the perfectness. Or, I think so at least!

Falling in love with solids. . .

So, I found out my college friend Tommie was getting married to his long time girlfriend – just a month before it was supposed to happen! I knew I had to make a quilt for them. (I really just need an excuse to justify making another quilt. But, shhhhhh, don’t tell anyone!)  Anyhow, for some reason I got it into my head to make it in the wedding colors which were brown and teal. These are beautiful colors but, I had the hardest time in all the world finding prints in these colors. I was looking for prints because I knew I had time constraints and wanted to do a super simple pattern like snowballs or something. So, I resorted to using solids – Kona solids – and unexpectedly fell head over heels in love with solids. OMG, there are so many shades and when you mix them all together – wow! In any case, I started with browns and teals and then I added turquoises and blues and tans. Then I knew I had to have a little contrast so I added some greens and pinks. . .  And boy was I happy with the results. I don’t even want to send it off now. I guess I’m going to have to make one for myself too!

I was trying to make something more fancy than just squares – I don’t know why I had the snowball pattern in my mind but, in the end I didn’t want to break up the beautiful solids. So I made something REALLY simple. It’s just 10″ squares so I guess the final size is about 80″ x 90″ (I haven’t actually measured it). I quilted it really simple with random “fairly” straight lines at various angles.

And, as you will get to know about me I just love making reversible quilts so I wanted the backing to look like another quilt “top” – using the fabric I had left over. It still kinda looks like a back but, I like it. Here’s the result:

So, now I’m obsessed with solids and have already picked out my fabrics for my next project – wonky circles out of solids! Yeah! I’ll show you a sneak peek soon.