Little Apples Improv Quilt - Done!

First off, I've got a winner to announce!  The winner of the Kona color card and two patterns is:

Commenter #19, Jessica from Sew Crafty Jess!!  Congratulations, Jessica, I'll send you an email shortly!

Did you have a good weekend?  I really did.  I finished up a quilt and I am really, really happy with how this quilt turned out.  After picking out these fabrics, and buying many of them in Salt Lake City during the Sewing Summit back in early October, I kind of hit a bit of a wall, trying to figure out what I wanted to do with them.  Aneela Hoey's illustrations used in the larger scale prints in the collection are just so darling that you can't just chop them up at will.

When I matched up my Little Apples prints with my Kona card, I snagged a few half-yards of the coordinating colors to add to the mix, and that was when I decided to go forward with a log cabin inspired improv piece.  I went about chopping my solids into strips of varying widths (1", 1.5", 2" and 2.5"), and fussy-cut 16 charms from my Little Apples fat quarters and half-yards.

The blocks came together really quickly, and as they multiplied on my design wall, I wasn't sure if I ought to add some sashing between the blocks to give the eye a less chaotic place to rest, but ultimately, thanks to some helpful Twitter and Flickr friends, I wound up skipping the sashing and piecing the blocks all together.  I think all the chaotic bits of color are part of what makes the quilt top visually interesting.

I did stick to my comfort zone when it came to quilting - I went with a simple, all-over stipple.  I really need to get out of my stippling rut one of these days, but I do enjoy actually doing it.  It feels natural to me, after all these quilts I've done this way.   That being said, though, I think that's going to be one of my quilty New Year's resolutions, to try more quilting techniques.

I bound this quilt using the same Kona Olive color I used in the quilt, but I did make a bit of a boo-boo - notice how skinny the binding is?  Totally an accident.  Instead of cutting 2.5" strips like I usually do for my binding, I cut 2" strips, but I made it work.

The baby who will be receiving this quilt hasn't been born yet, but he is on the way and I'm excited for him to arrive so I can share this lovely quilt with him!!   Happy Monday everyone!  I'm linking up with {Sew} Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations, drop on by to check out some recent modern sewing finishes

Quilt Stats:
Name: Little Apples quilt
Size: 40" square
Fabrics: Aneela Hoey's Little Apples collection for Moda Fabrics, Kona Olive, Kona Bahama Blue, and Kona Coral
Quilting: All-over stipple in Gutermann white thread
Binding: Kona Olive
Pattern: Improv-y log cabin, totally made up on the fly