Lanterns {A Finished Quilt}

Some of my friends had the unfortunate gall to get married before we met so I never had the chance to make them a wedding quilt. And sometimes I remedy that situation by making them a just-because quilt. This quilt was started at the Stash Bash in 2014 and finished in October 2015 for Cassie. We have both moved away from Alabama where we met and only see one another once a year or so.

I had been wanting to make a courthouse steps block quilt that has a 2nd lantern pattern to it. Scrappy with lots of different fabrics and colors. The palette was loosely based on one of my favorite fabrics:

Washi by Rashida Coleman Hale

Teal and chartreuse, peachy pink and dark gray, and some cool minty greens all mixed together with low volume texty prints.

Here is a progress shot. This quilt was an exercise in planning. I usually make all the blocks in one go chain piecing for miles. I took a different approach here making one or two blocks at a time and building the color story as I went. And isn't this quaint...my sewing area nice and open with a baby swing nearby. Nowadays I am jailed away behind a gate to keep the tiny people away from the sharp and hot dangers of the sewing nook.


Here is the final result.  I backed it with a teal minky fabric and bound it in dark gray birds from Violet Craft.


Here it is in better lighting. I quilted a simple diagonal grid through the center squares. This quilt was already so heavy with seams, batting and minky back I didn't want to overdo the quilting.