Think Outside the Box

This quilt was made at Quilt's Etc., another block of the month class.  I took this class with my daughter Lindsay.

The name of the Quilt class was "Think Outside of the Box."  The reason for this name was because the blocks were different sizes.  There were a lot of 6" blocks, some 12" blocks, some 8" blocks and even some rectangle blocks.  You definately had to get creative, figuring how to put the quilt together!

There were a few different color choices for the blocks.  I chose "It's a Guy Thing".  My kits had masculine colors for the quilt blocks. 
To make the blocks fit in the quilt, I had to make some extra blocks like the block in the lower left with the flying geese and pinwheel. I also added a lot of flying geese here and there to make the blocks fit.
I didn't like a lot of the colors that were in the kit but I used them anyway.  That was part of the challenge....I think it looks really good, even the ugly fabrics.  I try to use some fabric I'm not very crazy about in scrappy quilts because somehow they seem to make the pretty prints look even better!

I put star blocks in the corners because stars (and pinwheels) are my favorite quilt blocks.
I designed the quilt to have finished l  l/2" squares around each quilt block.  I really like dark sashing because I think it makes the blocks "pop".  I couldn't get any darker than black, but I think it makes a statement.  I laid all the blocks on the floor and then designed the quilt mathematically on graph paper.  

I found this very masculine fabric and couldn't decide which color of the print that I liked the best, so I bought some in all four colors and sewed a patchwork back.

I made this large lap quilt for my husband for Christmas in 2006.  I embroidered a poem that I composed, on a square on the back of the quilt.

As I cut out the fabric

for this quilt,

Every piece reminds me

of the family we've built.

My husband really liked it!  He uses it almost every evening when he watches TV.  I hope you have enjoyed this quilt's story :)