meet me by the old oak at noon

...and we will have a little picnic. I fell in love with the dessert fabric ("Kids at Play II" for Hancock Fabrics) the moment I saw it, but I had a difficult time choosing the right project for it.

I used a quilt as go technique to make it.  I hadn't heard of quilt as you go until a couple of months ago, when I stumbled upon Penny's blog Sewtakeahike, (Although I think I found a link to her on tumblr, so technically I tumbled upon her site.)  She was hosting a quilt as you go quilt along where she made the coolest quilt.  A couple of weeks after that, I caught and episode of Fons & Porter where they doing a slightly different quilt as you go method.  I cheated and mish mashed all the information together to make my verison.

First I pieced the blocks and then sandwiched each block with batting and a slightly larger square of backing fabric.

I quilted each square with lines at random angles using a variegated thread with shades of blue, yellow, and ivory.

After quilting, I trimmed and squared the blocks (and put them in a pretty stack)

Then I stitched the blocks into rows and the rows into a quilt, stitching the wrong sides together so the exposed seams are on the front.  This way you can cover them and all the extra stitching to attach them will be on the back.

I did a lot of back and forth over whether I should cover the seams with ribbon or fabric, but finally decided that matching the fabric to the binding was going to look the best.

Here's a shot of the back. (Make Life... by Sweetwater for Moda)

This is only my second quilt, but I have to say, I'm really liking this quilting thing.  I can also already see the downside.  So many amazing fabrics, so many cool ways to make quilts - if you aren't paying attention, you could turn around one day and buried under a tower of quilts.  For that reason, I'm thinking about putting this one up for sale in my etsy shop.  As of now, I'm undecided.

I'm also excited because I was able to finish it in time for The Bloggers' Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side.  What an amazing group of quilts and quilters - you should check it out.

ps.  I know the quilt is covered in strings, but I'm desperate to make several deadlines today so strings happened.

A gratuitous peony shot just because they are so lovely-