This is my 8th quilt. It started as a backing for the quilt I made for Merlin, but it was too cool to use as a quilt backing and it seemed like it had some California vibes, specifically it seemed like it should go to our toddler friend Julia.
The concept started with the fabric–since Merlin’s quilt top was very traditional (and much more blue than anticipated) I wanted bright, 80s style fabrics and a modern pattern. I found the Snap to Grid collection by Cotton and Steel, then found these Crazy Quilt iron-on templates from Lori Holt. I think normally you use them as part of a quilt rather than the whole thing, but I really liked the idea of a terrazzo-style quilt.
The blocks are fun to work with, though I had to make like 80 of them I think, which took much longer than I thought it would. For the backing I used some French constellation fabric (which has been the backing for nearly every baby quilt I have made so far). The binding is Kona Cottons sunrise, which I think provides a nice contrast to both sides of the quilt. I have used a lot of this fabric.
The quilting was an attempt at free-hand wavy lines and I think it came out pretty well, though I am still very new to free-motion quilting. There’s a poorly-done cursive JULIA hiding near one of the edges.
(Merlin was upset because we took him out of the bath.)
Doing it over, I would have picked maybe one fabric to be about 40 or 60% of the pattern and used only two fabrics for the remainder to have a much more terrazzo-like effect. I have some more blocks so it’ll probably end up an experiment for a baby quilt.