Better Late Than Never!

Prepare yourselves for a photo heavy post because I am so proud of this finish. It only took way, way longer than it should have. Way back last summer I was busy cutting up fabric like a maniac when I won the Go! Baby and sent Drunkard's Path blocks to all my bee pals to piece for me.

I went with tons of colour. Nothing but colour. I love colour. You guys will have figured that out by now. Off they went for the beginning of September and back came all these gorgeous pieced blocks. And I laid them all out on my kitchen floor, took a photo and lost faith.

Yes, I totally thought what the hell was I thinking putting all these fabrics together. I looked at my vision and did an internal scream. I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it. I thought I had just created the crappiest bee quilt ever. So I picked up all the blocks, stacked them up and put them away. And ignored them.

Well, wine may become finer over time. Apparently so can quilt blocks. Because the quilt I fell out of love with in the autumn has become this -

Now I know this will not be everyone's cup of tea. A complete lacking of negative space, somewhere to rest the eye. But me - I like it. It's in your face and over the top, yes, but in a good way.

I chose one of the DP circles and stitched in the ditch - sort of, because getting the walking foot to move around that little circle was a bit of a task. Then I did concentric circles for the remainder of the quilt. I use a 40w variegated Aurifil thread in gold. I have never tried quilting like this before but some of the lovely talented quilters I know have been inspiring me to take myself out of my comfort zone and to try something new besides stippling. So I did and I think it was the right decision for this quilt.

As much as the front is a shot of unrelenting colour, the back is the polar opposite. The only colour is provided by the signature blocks. I framed the smaller ones with Kona charcoal to bring them up to size with Judith's which worked out into a look I loved and I think works really well with this Ikea monochrome print. I used the same charcoal solid for the binding.

What I love most about this quilt most is the contrast of the front to the back. I think that any other backing would have competed with the front, but this one compliments it.

I just love the constrast. It was when I brought the two sides together that I went from being doubtful about this quilt to thinking that maybe I had done the right thing for a quilt for me. (Phew!)

The quilt measures approximately 72" x 48". I thought about making it 60" x 60" by making another block myself but then I would have had to change the backing and I didn't want to do that.

That's it. My very first bee quilt. But not my last.

Susan