Rectangle Swoonerie Redux

You may remember this from a blog post that I wrote back in December. I made this quilt from a pattern by Monica (aka The Happy Zombie) and fabrics from the Swoon line by Melissa Averinos. I have had the pleasure of getting to know both Monica and Melissa and I both adore them and am in awe of their mad skillz, so this quilt was already chock full of love.

And then it got quilted. And the love multiplied.

The fabulous Jackie of Canton Village Quilt Works offered her quilting services for this soon-to-be-for-charity quilt (if I can let it go, that is.) I packaged up the quilt top and the backing and sent it off to Connecticut to let Jackie have her way with it.

Her quilting really blew me away. First of all, I don't know what pattern she used, but I love it. I'm still trying to figure out all of the stops and starts and overlaps and criss-crossing lines that make up this pattern. But whatever it is, Jackie made the perfect choice and truly bought the quilt to life.

And lest you think her genius was limited to only the quilting pattern, check out how she used colored thread to enhance the design:

Yeah, that's right: purple and orange thread to match Melissa's prints. This next picture shows the backing and binding fabrics that I picked to complement the quilt top. For some reason, I've really been enjoying shopping for backing and binding fabrics lately. I love the hunt to find something a little off and a little unexpected for these two elements -- something that both complements and offsets the front a little bit. In this case, I selected a print from Tina Givens for the backing and -- because I love me a striped binding -- a print from Denyse Schmidt's Hope Valley line that highlights the rusts and purples featured in the Swoon fabrics.

That solid brown you see in the next pic is a Moda Grunge solid. Grunges and cross-weaves are quickly becoming two of my favorite types of fabrics to use in my quilt tops. (Sorry for all of the rogue threads that are still on the quilt!)

I am just thrilled with how this quilt turned out. I really couldn't recommend enough all of the different pieces that I pulled together to make this quilt: Melissa's awesome fabric designs, Monica's amazing quilt pattern, and the unbelievable quilting services offered by Jackie. Please go visit these amazing women. Tell 'em that Quilt Dad sent you!

http://www.yummygoods.com/
http://www.thehappyzombie.com/blog/
http://cvquiltworks.blogspot.com/