black licorice--a completed quilt

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

First off, thank you soooo much for your kind comments on my previous post. I am truly and deeply touched by all of your kindness and words of support. To answer the question that was asked so many times, yes, I do plan to leave my blog up as a resource. The other night at dinner I told my husband, "my blog really reached a lot of people". You should have seen the incredulous look he gave me, along with a big old "Duh!!!" We shared a good laugh after that. It has been an emotional week, but along with it, I have a deep sense of peace. For that I am grateful.

I'm excited that I have a finished quilt to share with you today! This one is called black licorice, but it also reminds me of stained glass. I gave it to my daughter, who loves ALL of the colors. She has been happily sleeping under it for several nights now.

The quilt is made up of 1554 little rectangles that finish at 1 1/2" x 2". That felt like a lot of pieces, even for me! :) Solids from a variety of manufacturers were used. There are a few shot cottons and a few linens that were used that give it additional texture that you wouldn't recognize until you get up close. I love quilts with details like that. I also love the darker patches sprinkled throughout that make subtle and random cross patterns when you are looking at it from a distance.

I made a special trip to the grocery store yesterday to get a package of "All Sorts" for the photos, just for fun. The candy tastes pretty good, too!

There is a LOT of quilting on this one....a black X through the middle of each and every rectangle. When I first quilted it, I quilted an X through all of the black rectangles, but it didn't look like it was quilted at all. Crazy! So, I went back and added quilting through all of the colored rectangles. It took a lot more time than I expected, but it was definitely the right choice!

I knew that I wanted to use Kona Marine for the binding, so when I went shopping and found this black and blue polka dot at SR Harris, I knew that it was "the one" for the backing. Hurray for a perfect match!

Using a black background for the quilt was definitely a stretch for me, but I'm glad that I tried it. I'm reasonably happy with the results! The quilt measures about 63" x 72".

 

This is my 3rd finish (out of 10, hopefully!) in my "Salute to Solids" series. You can see the first one here and the second one here. That means it must be time to start a new quilt! Hurray! :)

  

Now, it's your turn! Please link up your finishes for the month. Thank you, as always, for joining me for finish it up Friday! xoxoxxo