my first commissioned quilt top

Here's the Carolyn quilt top, on my newly landscaped front yard:As I've mentioned before, my favorite part about this is the outer border-- all of the fabrics I chose for the pinwheels were inspired by that pattern. Here's a closeup:To avoid having to piece the border, I had to wait and see how much I needed to buy, as this runs parallel to the selvedges, rather than across (like a typical jelly roll strip).

In my dream world, Moda would realize that those stretchy jelly roll strips, while easier for them to produce, aren't half as easy to work with as cuts that run the length-- rather than width-- of the fabric. Cutting the borders this way makes sure that the edges don't ruffle and instead lay flat. I got this tip from my favorite quilt shop owner when I was buying the aqua and brown Snow Flower for Mr. and Mrs. D's quilt, and sure enough, it made a big difference.

I still need to piece the back, making sure to include four of these little girls to represent Carolyn and her three sisters. The backing is a really soft faded denim-colored blue, which I think will make the quilt a bit more dimensional (I didn't realize how green the top was until I put it all together).