Ever since the quilting bug got a hold on me I have always wanted to do a red & white quilt. I wasn't sure what pattern I would use and the idea just sat in the back of my mind for the longest time. Then I realized that I wanted this quilt to have a scrappy feel to it like all the others I have ever made. Scrappy is my favorite. It just always will be. Sticking with one red fabric and one white fabric just didn't seem like it would work for me. So the last few years whenever I saw a red fabric that caught my eye I would have to get 1/3 of a yard to add to the collection reserved just for this project. The same went for the white fabric also. During this time I also settled on a block design that would go perfect with a special block idea I had floating around in my head. The time finally came when I just couldn't wait any longer for this quilt. Everything was collected. Everything was cut. Everything started to be sewn together. I was determined to do the quilting different than before so "quilt as you go" was the way I went again for this one. Sixty sawtooth blocks later and one special scrappy appliqué for the middle ( something I had never done before) and the front was complete. Perfect! My tribute to the Sawtooth Mountains here in Idaho. One of my most favorite places to go to.
Then came the back of the quilt. How to make it great like the front. Thanks to Amy Smart and her wonderful star block tutorial, a great decision was made. There was only one problem with "change in plans" for the back, I didn't have enough of a favorite white fabric to finish it. Early the next day, on a Monday morning, found me and one of the girls sitting in the car in the parking lot of the quilt shop where I had bought this fabric, just waiting for them to open while crossing my fingers that they had this fabric still and there would be enough that I needed. Let's just say that I did a teensy little celebration dance when one of the girls at the shop found it for me. I might have got a little bit extra than what I needed just so I would have some of it to add to my stash. Safe keeping and all.
So in the end I find myself loving this quilt a lot. Perfect block. Perfect fabrics. Perfect new to me technique that I had to try. This quilt is for sure marked as my 3rd most favorite quilt ever. I may have been walking around the house with it all weekend just so it could be snuggled up in whenever I felt the need.
My wonderful scrappy Red & White Idaho Sawtooth quilt.
~*~
Kar
