Last quilt of the year

Graduation quilt by Sherrie Spangler, copyright 2013

Here's my last quilt of the year, which I made for my daughter's college graduation.

It's a takeoff on the traditional Log Cabin block, with the center wonky orange block representing the heart of the home. The strips around the center represent -- via color -- each place she's lived. I printed the city and the years she lived there on ExtravOrganza.

This block from Kansas shows the bright blue summer skies, yellow of the sunflowers, white for winter snow, and tan and green for the prairie grasses. The little bunny is the first pet rabbit to come into her life.

The center block represents her wide open future!

I pieced the blocks improvisationally, starting with a pile of strips and sewing them down at different angles. It was quick and fun.

Then I quilted in a spiral, radiating out from the center sun. Besides loving the completeness of circles, I decided this could also represent her life spiraling out into the larger world. 

Now I'm working on a second quilt as the basis for a class I'm going to teach Feb. 13 and 20 at Quilt Revolution in Gig Harbor. It'll focus on the improvisational log cabin construction and also how to personalize your quilt. It should be fun! I hope some of you can take it!

Here are some of the fabrics I'm using in the second quilt. They're from Moda's "Grunge" line by Basic Grey. You can't go wrong with any combination of colors in the line.

Hop over to  Off the Wall Friday http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/2014/01/things-i-learned-from-candy-crush-off.html to see what other fabric artists are up to.

Have a colorful New Year!