Feels like publishing a novel

 

Special thanks to my husband for the heavy lifting, lol.

About half an hour ago (at the time of writing this post), I made the final stitch, completing one phase of crafting this Cornflower Quilt.

Photos have been taken, a few sent to those in the know. Now for a moment to sift through the last couple of years in the creation of this quilt top, which after the last block was stitched, came together a lot faster than I had anticipated.

A sample in the sunshine!

It's darker than I thought, the black squares and perimeter triangles adding a drama I hadn't considered.

It's beautiful, lol, but that kind of goes without saying, although I seem to have made this observation second to how dark it seems to me. (Having just finished August, by Judith Rossner, I'm in a little of an analytical mood, and maybe I'll write a post about how much I enjoyed that novel, but that's for later.)

Two of my favourite blocks.

 

It's full of fabrics from the last few years of my life, some very recent, some hinting back as maybe four years. Which in this my tenth year of quilting is fascinating, and yeah, more about that milestone soon enough.

It's a pattern I truly want to make again, for how easily and enjoyable were the blocks AND stitching them together. I can't say that about every EPP quilt, I might add.

Another fave, AMH in blue.

One of the reasons it came together so effortlessly (relatively) was a gift from designer Jodi Godfrey. When I ordered it, I requested the four-inch squares instead of the kit's original pieced versions of those squares consisting of diamonds, triangles and squares, all quite small. When I received the kit, Jodi noted that swapping out the small pieces wasn't possible, but she added the large squares for free, with a smiley face. Instead of laboring over stitching thirty futzy blocks, all I had to do was baste large squares, then realize I hadn't misplaced five of them, which is a few entries in the past, LOL....

And two more faves; the one on top was the last block stitched for this quilt. The squares in the one underneath were from a scrap I received in a fabric order years ago.

This quilt isn't being gifted, as were my previous English paper pieced efforts. I made it in a delightfully scrappy style that wasn't hampered by anyone else's choice of fabrics.

And again, it's very pretty. I love the different greens, I appreciate the black perimeter and inner blocks, as I rarely use black. I like having included two blocks without green borders, some fave Anna Maria Horner prints adding a little surprise.

That last stitch, for now. I'll probably hand-quilt this, so more stitches to come, but yeah, a quilt top brimming with joy!

Four years ago I stitched these blocks for Jodi's Seedling Quilt sampler quilt. Then at some point I made a couple more with the papers. Then I decided to indulge in a quilt of just these blocks. I ordered the kit with my special request, receiving more than I could have dreamed. Then slowly, slowly more blocks came together. Last December I finished that arc, then for several weeks I have been in the not quite as slow process of putting all that work into one quilt top. Much remains, haha! But on this sunny Humboldt morning, I have an EPP project not lying in pieces here and there. Currently it's draped over the couch, probably where it will end up once it's truly done. I'll consider that part later, as well as putting away all the shapes I borrowed from other collections, since I added an additional row to Jodi's design. I robbed Peter to pay Paul to make this baby, but am SO GLAD I DID!