patchwork pop | a quilt for Nova

Our friends Stan and Karissa are expecting their third child later this summer so of course I made a quilt. Karissa told me that receiving a quilt from me is one of the perks of having a baby so I was extra excited to make one for her. I took a color theory class with Anna Maria Horner a few months ago and decided to use the stack of fabrics I pulled in the class to make this quilt. A lot of them were not fabrics I would normally put together but I'm always trying to stretch myself and try new things, and if Anna Maria Horner said they looked good together then I believe her! 

I did add some neutrals (the two taupe fabrics) to tone down the boldness of the other fabrics but I'm not quite sure they did their job. This is the kind of quilt that I loved at first (when I was cutting) and then when I was sewing it together I wasn't so sure about it, but when I decided on backing and then quilted it I came around again and now I'm happy with it again. I think the biggest thing holding me back from loving it in the middle of working on it is the purple. I don't use a lot of purple and even though I like the color purple I have a hard time incorporating it into quilts. That was the point of the class though, to learn to embrace colors we aren't used to using. I accidentally deleted the full view photo of the quilt, oops.

Since the front is so bright and bold I tried to tone it down just a bit on the back. The colors are still really vibrant, but I think the large blocks of color next to the neutral is pleasing to the eye. I love the birds and polka dots on the right, they might be my favorite part of the quilt! 

I went with simple diagonal line grid quilting which I always like - I think the scrappiness of this quilt and the quilting give it a vintage feel - and I bound it in scraps from the quilt, another favorite finish of mine. I gave the quilt to Karissa at her "sprinkle" last week and I think she liked it! I can't wait to see Nova snuggled up with it in a just a couple months.