Finished Quilt: Baby Mountains

 It’s finished!

My younger sister is expecting her sixth baby (fifth living).  She has very specific tastes which are generally not my tastes.  This is totally okay with both of us, but it’s challenging to make a quilt that will interest me and fit her aesthetic.

Let’s be clear; she’s delightfully not demanding and appreciates the work of a quilt as she is a skilled photographer.  She knows what she likes.  She ruled out all the quilts I have already finished.  As I pulled various fabric collections, none pleased both of us.

Then I found this gradient hunk from Vicki Welsh.  Ooh, I knew this was promising. The yellow is quite in my sister’s realm of favorite colors.  She agreed.

I pulled as many coordinating solids as I could muster.  After a few pictures to my sister, we eliminated probably half of them.  In the end, we settled on eight fabrics.  Then, pattern.  Aha!

My sister lives in Colorado.  Mountains.  How about scrappy mountain majesties by Bonnie Hunter?   We both were charmed by the idea.  Maths ensued; how many squares could I cut from a 1/4 yard?  How many squares did I need?  How large a quilt could I make and use this gradient as a backing?  (In the end, I made too many blocks, so six extras are kicking around.)

The blocks were a matter of hours.  Then, how to arrange them?  Matching colors?  Some darks and some lights as the mountains?  Mixed?

In the end, here’s my decision.  I’m a fan.  While it might be hard to tell, there are purple, deep red maroon, brown, oranges, blue, and green.  The straight-line quilting kept the focus on the mountains and kept me from wrestling with the bulky seams in some places.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.