Springtime in Kansas

 It's been mini season here at Seaside Stitches. This is the largest of my recent mini finishes. I'm calling it Springtime in Kansas. The pattern is Kansas Dugout, and I think the scraps give a pretty springtime look. I've never been to Kansas, but my father was stationed there during World War II.

It started out innocently enough with a single ring of English Paper Piecing. I was excited that it uses the same papers as Patchwork of the Crosses.  

I added rings and rows until it reached a decent size. All the fabric came from my scrap bags, and no fabric is repeated except the Kona Snow squares.

 I didn't want to piece in tiny triangles to square it up, so I set it on point and appliqued it to a big square of Kona Snow. That provided large corners of negative space for fun machine quilting.

During the quilting, I had two "are you kidding me?" moments. Thankfully, I don't have this fold over problem very often. I was able to trim around the stitching and pull out the offending fibers.

I was literally 1/2" from finishing when the bobbin ran out. Really?!

I like the look of combining straight line and free motion quilting. It took me some time to decide on a quilting design for the piecing. I'm not completely happy with what I did, but it's done.

 I do really like the quilting in the corners. I took Christina Cameli's Craftsy class "Wild Quilting" last weekend to get some new ideas. I drew out a bunch of options and chose this divide and conquer symmetrical plan.

Oh, baby, I love this texture!

 

This little quilt will be donated to the Narragansett Bay Quilters Association auction to benefit the New England Quilt Museum. Do you think I can convince my husband to buy it back?

Springtime in Kansas

Started March 1, 2016

Completed March 21, 2016

Hand Pieced with Aurifil 50 wt

Machine Quilted with Superior So Fine 50wt

18" square
Purchased at auction by Maria Lage