beach brellies, an evolution

i have had the immense pleasure of coming up with a new quilt from what was once a "mistake" which resulted in a set of "wasted" pieces. this new quilt came together as i played around with the culled pieces from a previous quilt. because the pieces were already cut, all i had to do was make a configuration and put them together. the resulting quilt is one i love so much. it's funny how this unplanned quilt has turned out better than many quilts i did plan ahead.

when i first started making "citrus season," i was thinking of citrus colors against the bluebird skies of our local citrus season, my favorite time of year, so i made the star of citrus colors and the background of bright, light blues. 

it didn't come out feeling the way i envisioned, so i changed the background color to almost-white colors rather like the pith in citrus fruits. it was much better. but it left me with several large blue & citrus hsts and blue pieces already cut. i also had the excess hsts from making the replacements with the white background.

i found all these extra pieces last week when i was working on the pinwheel border. i mistrimmed a few pieces for the pinwheels and had to look through my scraps for replacement pieces. i remembered i wanted to make a different quilt with all the extra pieces and began considering what to make with them as i continued to work on completing "citrus season."

i put all the extra hsts together in four large pinwheel shapes, which i liked a lot. it was a start, but needed more to make at least small-sized throw quilt. eventually i decided i wasn't going to use the pinwheels for the border on "citrus season" after all, and thought i would use them here instead. but, the small pinwheels felt too busy and show-stealing with my large pinwheels, so i paired them with some of the border pieces at the ends instead. this made a very pleasing, small-ish quilt i could easily & quickly put together.

the pinwheels in the summer-y colors reminded me of beach umbrellas, so i named it "beach brellies." i was going to make an all-solids backing with blue "water" running down one side and "sand" on the other, with colored strips in between, all to resemble the beach. but then i realized who i was making the quilt for and picked some youthful prints instead. it turned out to be the perfect place to use two heather ross prints, that came in sets i bought, that i did not think i would have any use for.  

the top came together almost instantly and i got the backing made right away, too. i was doing all this while also working on completing "citrus season," actually preferring to complete "beach brellies" because it was being easier. 

all was going along swimmingly until i trimmed down the main backing piece while it was over the top, and accidentally snipped off a corner of the top.

quilting has taught me fortitude in a new way. when all these problems occur, i just have to do the work to fix them and keep moving forward. that's the only way to get a quilt finished. no use fussing (too much) or despairing, which i am occasionally tempted to do.

fortunately, i had more of those background pieces still, and it was a small matter to remove the damaged piece and replace it. 

i chose to outline-quilt the seams in a yellow 12wt aurifil thread. i love the thick, chunky look of it.

here you can see the blue gingham i chose for the main backing fabric and the seahorses that found their perfect home on this beach-y quilt for a little boy.

 the strong orange on this paper hats/boats print is cute, but i was always puzzled where i would use it as it doesn't fit the aesthetic of what i usually make. so i'm really happy it found a home here because it adds a fun touch to an all-solids topped quilt.

"beach brellies" is all quilted up now and should be ready for handbinding over our spring break trip, which will allow me to take pictures of it completed at the beach. wouldn't that be perfect?

and as for those pesky pinwheels that keep getting culled from quilts, i have a new idea for them, too, one where they will be featured and won't pull attention away from anything else going on, which means i will eventually have three-for-one from the original "citrus season" quilt. and then there's all the leftover backing print pieces i want to make into something, too. this is turning into quite a chain-quilting event as the various pieces keep evolving into new projects, finding their own place.