My mother-in-law is turning 75 so it is the perfect time to make a quilt for her. I've wracked my brain to come up with a different name for this one but can't think of anything better than the name of the fabric line that I used....so here is my Dogwood Trail quilt.



Originally I had planned to make a different quilt for myself with this fabric but while organizing my stash a few months ago and coming across that "kit" I realized that this really isn't my style or colors any longer but it certainly suits my mother-in-law's taste to a T.
I think the Hot Pink So Fine thread that I chose does a good job of standing out a little without overpowering the piecing.  For the panto, Dainty mimicked the blossoms in the fabric perfectly.
The combo of the two produced a nice flowing texture across the top.
The pattern I used was Grandma's Dominos by Kymberly Pease for Moda Bakeshop. Since I was piecing this top in the middle of Girl Scout cookie season, I wanted to make something fast and easy that would also result in a pretty quilt that is her style.  The quilt finished at 62" x 77".

I found a pretty backing fabric at a terrific price in Pink with light Blue flowers.

My mother-in-law was thrilled to receive her quilt and I'm sure it will help ward off the chill in the evenings as she sits and reads in her favorite chair.

Whoo hoo! I actually have a finish to show to you today. The pattern came from this issue of All Small from 2012.

I purchased the kit from The Village Quilter in Mt. Holly during the New Jersey Shop Hop that year. It included everything...the fabrics for the top, the backing and the batting. All I needed to add was the thread. As you can see from the picture, the sample was done in bright fabrics from Me and My Sister Designs and my kit was made up with Asian fabrics.

This was the sneak peak I posted a few days ago. The instructions state to sew all the strips together then sew the side border/backing fabric to the long sides of the strip panel. After that you add the batting and then turn the entire thing right side out to finish. (The instructions called for fusible fleece but my kit contained batting so I just basted it with basting spray.)

I looked through a few books for quilting ideas and settled on some straight lines in every other strip and a big loopy Ls in the alternating strips. I didn't mark the straight lines, I just eyeballed it. But do you see my big Oops there? The strip with the peacock feathers is the correct one to have straight lines but the next one should have been the Teal/Blue/Green one to the left of the Cream strip.

I quilted up the correct strips with the plan to rip out the wrong rows after. It was time to take a break for dinner so I decided to leave it for the moment and then come back and see if I prefer it with straight lines in every strip or not.

After cleaning up the dishes, I went back and took a good long look at it and decided which way to go. What did I choose? Well you'll have to keep reading to find out. Some top stitching down both sides of the border was next.

And here it is all finished and now residing on my kitchen table. It finished at 15" x 47", a good size for this smaller table.

As you can see, I decided to rip out the strips that I quilted by mistake and I also decided to not quilt the big loopy Ls in the alternating strips. I like it with the alternating strips unquilted. I did quilt a couple of additional long lines of stitching on the borders.

This was a fun and quick little project and one that I'll definitely make again. It would be easy to adjust to make it longer or shorter and being that it only took a few hours overall to complete, would make a great fast gift to whip up when needed.

I'm joining a few Linky Parties this week with this finish.