what a bunch of squares

This is the quilt that I was working on with the pieced binding. I didn't want to give away too many sneak peeks before the quilt was finished.

It was inspired by Denyse Schmidt's Lazy Gal quilt. This is the third quilt in this style that I have made. The first one is on my bed. The second (quilt top only) I swapped for fabric with Jacquie.

This just may be my favorite one of this style yet. There is no pattern for this...it's just free pieced. First I made the colored blocks, then I added white borders to make the blocks 16.5". I joined all 12 blocks together, then I added white borders (4.5" cut) around the edges of the quilt to make the squares pop. The quilt measures 57" x 73".

The white fabric is bleached muslin that I bought it at JoAnn's ($1/yard with a coupon.) When I first starting working with it I thought it was a little thin, but now I'm sold on this fabric. It's lightweight but strong. I love that it IS thinner, because it makes the quilting process so much easier-there are fewer bumps (where the seams join) to quilt over. And it doesn't fray like crazy, which is another huge plus in my book.

For the back I used solids with a strip of frog fabric that came from Carolyn. The solid green fabric was from a duvet cover set I bought at IKEA. The grey came from Mill End Textiles in Fargo. It's a PERFECT grey. Isn't that frog fabric fabulous??? It's from Alexander Henry. I love it. Thanks Carolyn!

I stippled the whole quilt in white serger thread (which happens to be 100% polyester-but I don't mind-I'm not a cotton thread purist). I like to use serger thread at times, especially if I don't want the quilting to look thready and stand out. It's a thinner thread, so it blends in, which is exactly what I was looking for.

I LOVE mixing designer fabric with lots of solids.

It's a great way to get a lot of bang for your buck.

Because let's face it, when you make a lot of quilts, that really matters.

I love a pieced binding...

and here it is all folded up. I haven't washed this one yet.

That's on the agenda for today!

I'm keeping this one.