California Dreamin'

I retired in March of 2016 and decided to quilt with some of my newfound free time. I learned to sew in high school but made only a few holiday projects and patchwork pillows since the 1970s, and had never made a quilted piece. My first quilt began with a couple of sunny fabrics I found while visiting my daughter in Santa Cruz, CA. I discovered Hart's Fabrics and Beverly's Crafts there, and filled my suitcase with many half and one yard treasures. I had never heard of fat quarters and bought a good selection of those as well. ! loved the bright colors and abstract/floral designs I had selected, but had no idea how to put them together. Before my trip, I had attended a local quilt guild's small quilt show and picked up three used quilt books for $5. My finds included Freddy Moran's book, Freddy's House. I packed the book to read on the plane. I was thunderstruck by her free wheeling designs and use of COLOR. I later found that the book is out of print, and used copies are listed for close to $100 online - who knew I had snagged a treasure? I was crazy for Freddy's quilts and loved the way she used black and white to showcase her wild colorful designs. I wanted to include black and white dots in some way with my yellow/red/orange prints, but was stuck. The cover quilt on McCall's Quick Quits from April/May 2016 featured black and white dotted sashing. Suddenly I had a plan. So - with my much brighter color palette - I made a test block, loved it, and plunged ahead. Completed the top by early May, took it to a local shop to be long arm quilted, and took off again to Santa Cruz to watch my granddaughter for three weeks while her parents took an anniversary trip to Spain and Portugal. More on that with my second quilt! My husband drove all the way from Chicago to Santa Cruz so we could tour the west a bit on my return from California. We stopped in Taos, NM, and to see the Grand Canyon on our way, but also stopped at a lot of quilt shops in various states. Our last stop before returning to Chicago was at Hamilton, MO. I had met folks from MSQC at a big Chicago area quilt show in April and could not miss a chance to visit. WOW! Suffice it to say I racked up some quilter's cash and vowed to return. Once back in Chicago, I bravely bound my first quilt using Jenny's Ultimate Quilt Binding Tutorial. I always replay this tutorial whenever I am binding a project - from table runners to larger pieces. I am thrilled with the result and so happy to share the story and photos.