Ice Parfait on the beach!
Last weekend was our annual camping excursion to Hunting Island State Park, South Carolina. It's a gorgeous place to camp. Bringing a baby with medical needs was super challenging, emotionally, intellectually and physically, but thanks to very helpful family and friends, Brandon and I did manage to enjoy ourselves.
And - bonus - I also got some quilt pictures!
I absolutely had to finish this quilt in time to photograph it at the beach because the setting is perfect for these colors, don't you think? As you can see, the wind didn't entirely cooperate. But, hey, that keeps the shots interesting.
In case you want to see what the front and back actually look like, here are some I took at home:
Freshly wrinkled. Ha!
It's difficult to see in photos, but my straight-line quilting loosely echoes the abstract tree shape. I started most sections by quilting up the tree "trunk" and then out from that center. I'm always looking for low-stress ways to quilt because the quilting step still feels risky to me, like I might ruin everything. With this design I didn't cross over previous lines, but just kept echoing quilting paths at random widths, which helps to avoid puckers.
In the negative space, I quilted a few dense patches over the Kona Ice Frappe. Here I'm using a hera marker to mark my quilting paths. It makes a nice, sharp crease and "applies" faster than pencil or pen. As much as possible, I avoid marking lines. This tool is my go-to when marking is key to accuracy.
The finished quilt measures 49 x 70. I bound the edges in a crisp mint stripe interspersed with white and some other fabric scraps, since I didn't have quite enough to go round.
I think this quilt is one of the most "modern" ones I've made. The making felt completely natural, but I also know that my next few quilts will be much more traditional, as is my usual style. I do enjoy working with a repeated block! I've listed Ice Parfait in my Etsy shop now. I hope it finds a happy home with someone who loves peach and mint as much as I do!