Summer Sampler Complete!

Yesterday afternoon our family journeyed downtown to a quiet old place in the midst of the city.  Naturally, we had forgotten entirely about that scourge of the downtown - parking meters.  Did we have change?  Um, no.  And on further inspection, we were also without wallets (bad, naughty!).  I'm stubborn, so we circled around in desperate search of somewhere to park.  Four blocks from our destination a few meters were slated for 20 minutes free.  Hmm.... How fast can our family walk four blocks on determined 4 and 6-year-old legs?  In 7 minutes, to be precise. Which left us 6 minutes for this photoshoot...

Here it is - my finished Summer Sampler! I am really thrilled with how it turned out.  Do you like the border?

This quilt is so different for me.  It took me far, far outside my comfort zone.  I've notice that when friends come to visit and ask to see what I'm working on, I feel the need to prepare them before unveiling this work.  Is it the black?  Or the traditional, piecy blocks?  I'm not sure, but either way I wanted the border to cement all I love about the blocks:  the sharp angles, heightened contrast, girlie magenta paired with hard black.

So, my border is scrappy, not solid.  And, free of yellow too.  Once it occurred to me to keep the yellow in the center only, I knew that was meant to be.  It may be my imagination, but I feel like the slightly subdued border frames the quilt and the yellow in the blocks draws the eyes to the center.  I like it anyways!

Backed in a lovely Ginsing print by Joel Dewberry and bound in Kona Cerise. Quilted with straight lines in an evenly spaced, but irregular pattern.  With my 5" border, the finished size is 58" x 46", which I think will be lovely for the foster child I've imagined.  To be donated in September to Epworth Children's Home in conjunction with Kate's 100 Quilts for Kids drive.  Thank-you, Kate, for giving me a reason to enjoy the Summer Sampler Series quilt-along!  And thanks also to Faith and Lee!

As you can see, our quiet old place is a beautiful cemetery.  I hope you don't mind me taking you here!  This particular one is over 100 years old and filled with majestic live oaks and interesting corners.  Unfortunately, we didn't have time to explore much on this particular trip, but the kids are as eager as we to return sometime soon. 

This time, with quarters.