A brighter shade of pale - finished!

My first finish for 2013 - my version of the Lucky Square quilt designed by Jessica Kelly aka Sew Crafty Jess.  I love how this quilt turned out!  You can see the quilt before it was quilted here, and I think you'll agree that the cross hatch quilting adds a certain something.

I thought quilting like this would take forever, but it didn't.

I didn't intend to keep this quilt, but I love it so much I just have to.  Next task, to make some coordinating pillow cases and cushions.  And I have enough fabric left over to do just this, yay!

Still loving that crazy back.

I am having a solid binding phase at the moment...

Wow, this was a great quilt to make!  I was surprised how quickly the top went together (and I know other pattern testers have had the same pleasant experience).  Thanks again to Jess for letting me test this pattern.  Check out this amazing version using Architextures from Kirsten at Gemini Stitches, and this lovely scrappy version by Alison from Little Bunny Quilts.  You can also see a few of the other versions in Jess' blog post about the pattern here.

Quilt Stats

Pattern:  Lucky Square by Sew Crafty Jess, with my own modifications.

Finished Size:  Approximately 74 inches square.

Fabric: Unspecified taupe linen blend from my local quilt shop, the following fabrics from Anna Maria Horner's Field Study Collection (Cell Structure in Americana, Migratory Lace in Aquatic, Spotted in the Crowd in Grace, Sundials in Glow, Cell Structure in Lilac, Fine Feathered in Whisper, Specimen in Dream, Migratory Lace in Tourmaline, Sinister Swarm in Flour, Sundials in Happy) and Coral in Aqua from Dan Bennett's Ruby Collection for Westminster Fibres.

Backing: The following fabrics from Anna Maria Horner's Field Study Collection (Migratory Lace in Tourmaline, Coordinates in Saffron, Mind's Eye in Samba, Mind's Eye in Toast, Cell Structure in Algae), Coral in Aqua from Dan Bennett's Ruby Collection for Westminster Fibres, Summer Totem in Tart from Anna Maria Horner's Loulouthi Collection, Bubble Burst in Confection from Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush Collection, Water Chevron in Breeze from Sarah Jane's Out to Sea Collection and Mishmash in Grey from Erin McMorris's La Dee Da Collection.

Binding: Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in Thistle

Pieced and quilted by: me, on my domestic sewing machine.

Phew!  This is my January goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes done and dusted (woohoo!).

It is also the first of my first quarter goals for the 2013 Finish-A-Long - one down, eight to go!

Linking up with Plum and June,  Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday, and Sew Cute Tuesday at Better Off Thread:

A brighter shade of pale (lucky square)

A little while ago, this quilt top popped up in my google reader.

It is the Lucky Square quilt top made by the lovely Jess at SewCraftyJess, and she asked for volunteers to help test the pattern she has written for it.  I offered my assistance and Jess was kind enough to send me the pdf of the great pattern she has put together.  Over a few days, a whole bunch of cut squares and strips have gone from this:

to this:

to this!

I used the softer coloured fabrics from my fat quarter set of Anna Maria Horner's Field Study Collection, plus one other print, together with a lovely taupe-ish linen from my local quilt shop.

It would be fair to say that apart from putting this quilt together quickly, I am not a very good pattern tester.  This is actually the first quilt I have made using a pattern (um, yeah, I didn't mention that to Jess when I volunteered...) and I made a couple of tweaks like taking out a row and adding a border.  The great thing about Jess' pattern is that it had plenty of information for me to easily work out how to make the tweaks I wanted to, which I think is a very helpful feature.

My version finished 74 inches square (which is why I am struggling to hold the whole thing up in the pictures) and is now basted and ready for quilting.  For the quilting, I am planning to do a very simple straight-line crosshatch over the whole quilt, in a thread that co-ordinates with the linen (and should blend into all the coloured squares).

I went a little crazy on the back - I didn't have any large cuts big enough to do a solid back, so I picked a whole bunch of prints that go with the colours on the front.  This is the first time I have done a really wild quilt back, and I have to say, I like it.

I can't wait to quilt this up and see the finished quilt in all its glory.  I hear that Jess is planning to release the pattern in the week starting the 14th of January, so keep an eye out!