The big blocks and bright colors in this quilt just make me want to run around outside on a summer day. Is that wrong?

Actually, this one was a strangely long time in progress. I was collecting fabric from Laurie Wisbrun’s Tufted Tweets, and decided I wanted to use them to make a “quick” quilt. I based it on Ashley’s Blocks and Stripes quilt tutorial, just making it bigger so that it’s a pretty generous size (about 60×70, I think?), and adding just a couple of extra prints from my stash. I had the top together relatively quickly, and then it just languished in an unfinished pile for months. It didn’t have a destination or a deadline, so it fell off my radar.

Finally, I decided to finish it up, and continued the big blocks and stripes motif on the back. I quilted it in straight horizontal lines – first going on either side of each horizontal seam, and then going back and filling it in with some double- and triple-lines.

I always love a good polka dot on a binding, and this bright aqua from Jennifer Paganelli seemed the perfect fit. And, as much as I have always enjoyed the quietly therapeutic hand-stitching of a binding, I think I am a machine-binding convert. Now that I’ve managed to do it so that it looks fairly neat and clean, the speed and strength just can’t be beat.

Best of all, as I was working on getting this quilt finished, I thought of the perfect home – with my friend Maria and her awesome family. So off it went to Maine as a surprise. I am thrilled to say that it was immediately welcomed into the family and put to good use on a freakishly gorgeous March day. I know some people make quilts as art, but I make them so that they get used and abused and generally well-loved. Sand, schmand. That’s what it’s all about.