Autumn Desert

Whew! What a day! Would you believe me if I told you that when I woke up this morning, this quilt was merely a finished top and only a partially finished back?? Let me just pause right here and say a GIANT thank you to my sweet husband for running after our three preschoolers today so that I could have a marathon quilt day and finish this in the nick of time to participate in Celebrate Color!



This was the inspiration fabric for this quilt: this gorgeous print from Jane Dixon for Andover Fabrics called Desert Bloom. I love how this line pairs warm colors with bright. Burnt orange and rust alongside happy green, pink and turquoise captured the essence of fall for me, and I couldn't wait to dive in to make a quilt. But what quilt?? Well, last summer when I was in Chicago and had the great fortune of visiting Quiltology (a fun, urban quilt shop in Lincoln Park),as chance would have it, I had to use the bathroom. Believe it or not, they had the most beautiful quilt IN THE BATHROOM! I gasped and waxed on about how gorgeous the quilt was and why on earth was it hiding in the bathroom??? They said they no longer sold those particular fabrics, so they didn't want it to be on display. Gasp, I say - it was simply stunning! (To be fair, they did have another sample of it made up in the main room, but still!) The pattern was called Lincoln Park, and was designed by Collette, the owner of the shop. I knew it would be perfect for these fabrics! The pattern is fun and scrappy, and I wanted lots of different prints and high contrast between the bars. It's a great pattern, but if you feel so inclined to make it, you're about to get real intimate with your iron, I'm just sayin'. One day, when I have nothing to do, I may just count how many seams are in this quilt. Goodness!
Here's the back - I love how it turned out! I only had to buy 2 yards for the backing, the rest was scraps. And this is a big quilt! (62" x 78" ) And here is a view of the front and back together. I leave you here so I can run link to Celebrate Color (thanks, Rachel!), and go spend some time with the guy who cheered me on all day to get this finished!