Balderdash quilt

I made a new quilt!

I went on a quilt retreat in February that was like my Hallmark dream come true!  Quilting with best friends in a cute cabin, with a big picture window looking onto a winter wonderland of snow in the mountains of Payson, Arizona.  There is snow in Arizona, but not in the Phoenix area where I live!

I got my quilt quilted a week ago and just finished binding it.  I had to go to the park at Copper Sky and do a photo shoot. 

This pattern is called Balderdash and it's by Emma Jean Jansen, an Australian designer. She's on Instagram and she inspires me lots!

I wanted a pattern that had large blocks to show off my favorite Ruby Star Society fabrics.  This pattern fulfilled my vision. Just because there are large blocks doesn't mean it was easy.  It was very tricky getting the fabric to go in the right direction by the crosses.

I had a beautiful Cotton & Steel fabric for the back.

My quilter did a fabulous job with the machine quilting.  The pattern she used is called "Arches". My quilter is Pam Rackley at 

Sweet Pz Designs in Gilbert.

Isn't this fabric pretty?  All the different prints :)

The crosses are all sewn with scrappy low volume pieces. I especially love the squirrels and the view masters.

Thanks for following along, it's always so wonderful to have a finish!

Balderdash quilt

 I went on a quilt retreat over a month ago.  It was in Arizona, in the mountains of Payson. The night before we arrived, there had been a big snowfall.  Months before I had a dream that I was on a quilt retreat  where it was warm and cozy in the house with big picture windows, looking out onto a beautiful snowy scene. My dream came true and I felt like I was in a Hallmark movie with good friends and good food!

Before the retreat, I had all the fabric cut for Emma Jean Jansen's quilt pattern, Balderdash. I used a lot of my favorite Cotton and Steel, and Ruby Star Society fabrics. The most difficult thing about assembling the quilt, was making sure the half square triangles surrounding the crosses were facing the right way and that the directional fabric was going the right way too.  I only had a couple that didn't work out.  I hogged the whole design wall!

I love my new Balderdash quilt!  It's a great memory of my quilt retreat too.  Now I need to get it quilted!