Sew & Tell Friday: Amy Butler Love Ring

One year ago I was shopping for fabric for a HUGE quilt I wanted to make for one of my favorite sisters, Katy, because she was turning 40 in January 2016. I had already decided to do the Quiltsmart Love Ring pattern and I wanted to use Amy Butler fabrics. I'd seen a very intricate quilt that had used about a dozen different modern fabrics and they ended up looking so great together. I loved the intensity of all those rich colors together. Since this quilt was going to be big enough to put on the bed, I thought I'd get colors that wouldn't bother her husband too much. So, not pink. Okay, a little pink. 

While I was choosing fabric, I kind of had a nervous breakdown because they all looked so different and I couldn't tell if it was in a good way. I also didn't know how much to get because the directions didn't have a king-size recipe. And Bridget was dancing around me at the fabric store. In conclusion, I got too much fabric. Better than too little!

The morning after I'd finished it and washed it we had a beautiful snowfall outside. I couldn't tell where I was focusing, though, because it was so cold. 

I decided to use eight of my ten fabrics when I had the thought that one particular fabric made me think of Katy. And hey, I have two fabrics that are a wee more masculine than the rest and there are two boys in her family (her husband and son). Then I was like...HEY! I can use one fabric to represent each person in her family and put them in order of birth (except the parents). Katy is in the middle, then her fabric makes a complete square when the quilt pattern is finished.

Ta DA! Eighteen rows with eighteen squares. I didn't take pictures of the process. Probably because I did a little here and there for a year. I finally put it together during my retreat with Kristi in November. I had a box full of 4" squares and quarter circles that I had to iron onto the correct square, so I had to have it laid out on the floor to make sure I wasn't ironing the wrong fabrics together. I felt pretty triumphant when I'd finished that part of the process, but then I had to sew all those quarter circles onto the squares, cut the interfacing out of the back, then sew all the squares to each other in the right pattern. When I put it away at the retreat, I had each row in a Zip-lock bag and labeled. 

The back is a little less of an assault on the eyes. I used the gray and white version of Helena's fabric and a plain white row in the middle. I'm still on the fence with the fabric I chose for the border. I probably should have gone with something less busy. I can live with my decision because I don't have to live with my decision, knowwhatI'msayin'?

I had Wendy quilt it for me. I chose a modern pattern that wouldn't be too busy on top of everything else that was happening. I love that you can see it so clearly in the white stripe on the back. 

Whew! I finished it! And I got it to her before her birthday! Pretty proud of myself, actually. On to my next assignment... Maybe I'll push pause on that and finish cleaning out my Stash Under the Stairs. Hahahahaha! I make myself laugh.