A Graduation Quilt

I took these photos on a beautiful spring day in Georgia – and nothing is prettier than a Southern Spring. It’s the deep breath before the onslaught of summer, and down here that means 90+ degree days with 800% humidity… This blooming cherry tree was the perfect backdrop for this sweet quilt, so I snapped a few pictures before I sent the quilt off to the graduate.

I like modern twists traditional blocks, so I love the secondary pattern that forms in this pattern by Corey Yoder. The shoo fly blocks have one little addition on their corners, and when you alternate them with the star blocks those white squares form – easy piecing for a big effect.

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I accented the white squares by quilting straight lines – I wanted to highlight the effect of the squares made by the piecing and block arrangement. Inside, on the shoo fly block itself I quilted a stylized rose.

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And then inside the star blocks, there is also a white square, instead of a solid. Here I quilted a spiral feather design, and some continuous curved lines around the triangles. All the fabric, batting and thread is 100% cotton – I love the way all that cotton feels, and I do love the way it gives the typical quilt puckered look.

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The center photo above is a view of the back – this 108″ wide backing fabric is cotton sateen and is the softest fabric ever. This would make a great backing for any throw quilt – very comfy and soft to snuggle under. But I did make it big enough to go on a bed, so my graduate friend will be able to use it either way – and grown up enough for a post college apartment as well.

For the binding, I used the striped fabric from one of the blocks on the front – I like the effect stripes make when cut into binding.

And lastly, a Blue Beagle Quilts label – I have started sewing them into the corners so I can avoid any hand sewing. I hand stitch about as well as a four year old – and don’t enjoy it, so this is my fix for that. I have my dear friend, the mother of this graduate, to thank for my logo – she’s a wiz with graphics and came up with the silhouette of a beagle standing on grass. I had the logo she made digitized, and now I can use my embroidery machine to make the labels! What fun to give her daughter a quilt with her mom’s design on it!

Happy Quilting!