Quilt Top and Quilting Conundrums

I finished my Backyard Baby quilt top this weekend! What a great block and quilt design--it went together so smoothly and easily. I'm completely pleased with how it turned out.

I think this is a terrific quilt top design to have in your back pocket for gifts you might need on short notice. Here's why:

1. It's super easy, and goes together really quickly. You could probably make the whole quilt in a day, if you had all day to work on it and a longer attention span than I do.

2. It can be budget-friendly. That's actually what inspired me to try it. I used a 1/4 yard of each print (and that was juuuust enough!) The rest is a solid fabric, which is cheaper. I don't know about you, but while I'd love to fill each quilt with nothing but the latest designer prints, that's not happening on a grad student budget. This was a way to feature those prints, but still only buy a yard total of them.

3. It's a great way to feature a few favorite prints. I think the prints can really stand out with this particular pattern.

As mentioned before, this is based on the Filmstrip Quilt at crazymomquilts. I adjusted the measurements and made fewer blocks than in her tutorial though.

Now, I have to make some decisions about quilting, by far the part of the process that intimidates me the most. I had originally planned to try some meandering squiggles, simply because I've never done that before and it seems to fit the fabric (it's almost like the path that bugs walk in!) But I've been losing a bit of nerve and thinking of various grid possibilities, which would also look very nice and be easy to pull off given the block structure on this one. What do you think?

Bloomin' Spiral                              Gridlines

Rows of Loops                          Meandering Bug Paths

I had a really great weekend beyond quilting. On Saturday, I went kayaking for the first time since I got back from Michigan. I thought I'd be smart and bring my old camera, but I was stupid and put my new card in it and it didn't work. :( It was beautiful though. I love kayaking.

I took this one last summer. Gorgeous, huh?

Also, fifteen years and one day after the publication of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" (or "Philosopher's Stone," I suppose), I finished the entire Harry Potter series. I read a little of the first book in the late 90s as a teen, and for some reason, it didn't grab me at the time. But this time, it definitely did! I loved the series, and want to read all of the books again. :) Better late to the party than never!

Happy Monday--have a great week!

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