Jane's Black and White Quilt

For many years now - at least eight - we've been heading down to the beach each year with my best friend and her family. On one of those trips, they also invited some friends that we had never met. We were so nervous - a week in a house with people we didn't know! But, we trusted Ashley and Donnie and their taste in people. Turns out it was the beginning of a new friendship.

Jane and her family are now *my* friends... no longer just friends of friends. We all still go to the beach together, and usually have one or more other excursions with them throughout the year. Both families live in Chapel Hill, and now when we go see one we almost always also see the other. Pretty cool considering you just never know if you'll like your friend's friends. :)

So... (yeah, Jane, that one's for you) fast-forward to last year and my rekindled obsession for quilting. Jane is more contemporary in her tastes, and I was itching to dive into something non-traditional for a quilt. We were talking about her black-and-white bedroom (with a touch of pale blue for accent) and I offered to make a quilt. She's been most patient with me as I've struggled through my other projects and my ADD lifestyle. But finally, I have started on her quilt.

A long Easter Weekend in the mountains was ahead, but Ash had to leave her sewing machine at home despite needing to finish a quilt. Since I had planned on taking my machine anyway, I gathered up some fabric for cutting so I could focus on that and Ash could use my machine.

I started out cutting and marking squares for what felt like a bazillion half-square triangles.

 Sew . . . cut . . . press . . . sew . . . cut . . . press . . . sew . . . cut . . . press . . .

Then a few more bazillion squares for the alternate block.

The pattern I am using is Rachel Griffith's Full Swing (free at Fat Quarter Shop, btw!), but in a different color scheme.  

I picked up a half-yard custom bundle of black and white fabrics from Fabricworm and then played around with the combination of prints. As you can see, I was still deciding on the pinwheels in these pics...the upper right is a combination of black fabrics in the arms while the other is all one fabric. (The white is Kona Cotton solid.)

The original thought was that each center pinwheel square would be one black print with the "arms" of each a different black print. Five prints total on one block...but it just didn't sit well.

So I tried the black solid in the middle, but it was still a bit distracting (for my tatse) with the arms being different. Final answer?   Black solid in the center and a matching print for all four arms.

The alternate block is a random pick of four different fabrics that are not used in the pinwheel block, including two white/off-white background prints. I wasn't sure about them at first but I liked them once I laid out the block.

Once I got past the initial cutting, the blocks came together easily and quickly, especially the pinwheels. I still have a few to go and my week has been a bit nuts, so no progress since these pictures. I think I'm going to try a block-a-day approach next week to see if I can pound this thing out.


Wish me luck!