Summer Sampler quilt
I would like to briefly interrupt your Christmas planning to bring you a bit of summer in December—My Summer Sampler quilt is complete!
My mother-in-law had hip replacement surgery last Friday. The surgery had been scheduled for January, which I thought would be good timing for me to make her a quilt. When a spot opened up for her to have the surgery earlier, I thought I might not be able to manage it, because I was already so busy. But then I realized, I had the perfect quilt for her, and it was already very much in progress ... my Summer Sampler!
The top and the back were already done, so all I really had to do was quilt it and bind it. But of course, I can never leave well enough alone or make anything easy for myself. I immediately decided that the current size was too small to be useful, and I wanted to make it bigger. So between Wednesday and Monday, I took the borders off the original top, made eight additional sampler blocks and added them, put new borders on, added to the back to get it up to size, basted it, quilted it, and bound it. Whew!
When I decided to add the extra blocks, I wanted to find and choose new block designs quickly, so all of the pictures in the Summer Sampler Flickr group were invaluable to me. Many of my new blocks were inspired by the extra blocks that some of you made.
Here are the blocks I added:
Another Star of Virginia (tutorial here)
Another Greek Cross (tutorial here), but I changed up the colors/values to give it this octagon shape
This fun star-within-a-star block
This HST star, which Isabelle used in her colorful sampler
My version of the Diamond Chip block, from Sarah Fielke's book Quilting From Little Things, as seen on Monica's Happy Zombie blog
Snowblossoms block (free paper-piecing pattern available here)
Another HST-type block
This cute star variation
So here's how the top started out, before the extra blocks ...
And here again is my refashion/completion.
My MIL said that she will "treasure this quilt for the rest of her life." Wow! She's a very practical woman who isn't at all prone to exaggeration, so that was a wonderful compliment coming from her and really made me feel great. I'm so glad she can enjoy it while she's recovering.
So, that's one major thing off my list. I've also got our Christmas decorations up and made excellent progress on my Secret Santa Twitter Swap item, so I am feeling a lot less stressed today! Score one (or several) for me.
Quilt Stats:
Size: 60" x 74"
Design: From the Summer Sampler Series Quilt-Along, hosted by Katie, Faith, and myself, plus eight extra blocks. For tutorials for the original 12 blocks, click here.
Fabric: Various lines/prints, with background in Kona White
Quilting: Free-motion stippling by me on my home machine
Back: Various lines/prints
