Coins on the Sidewalk

Today was the last day of school for the kiddos, and y'all- I am exhausted!  Trying to keep some semblance of order during the last few days of school is like trying to herd cats.  You can run around in circles and never get anywhere (and I say that with all the love in my heart).  Of course, I have to work tomorrow to finish all of the odds and ends to close out the school year, but somehow, doing all of that without kids in the room doesn't seem nearly as taxing.  Hmmmm...wonder why?  ;)  I am so ready to have the summer to spend with my wild thing at the pool, and baseball field, and to be able to sew until all hours of the night without repercussions (not serious ones, anyway).

Speaking of repercussions, I stayed up waaaayyy too late finishing up the stippling on this quilt last night, which just might account for a smidge of my lack of energy today (but just a smidge- it's mostly because of the kids I tell ya!).  For once, I actually had a good reason for doing this, rather than just my obsession with all things quilty.  My Mom and Dad live six hours away, so they hardly ever get to see my quilts in person before they're sent to their new homes.  It so happens that we're heading to visit on Saturday morning, so I wanted to have it finished to make the trip with us.  That's a good enough reason in my book!

I just finished putting the binding on this quilt (Kona Clover), and I have to say without a doubt- I love the way this quilt turned out! The use of the Kona Iron as my sashing was a bold choice (for me).  Ordinarily, I would have picked the much more traditional white sashing, but I think that the gray gives it a little bit of the unexpected, and makes the colors really stand out.  I think it also makes it look a little more grown up.

For the back, I chose Kona Ice Frappe- what a dreamy color.  It's so easy on the eyes, I could just stare at it!  With the darker sashing, and colorful coin explosion on the front, a softer color was in order for the backing.  But I did include a row of coins to give it a little pizzazz.  Something about this gray, aqua, and green color combo feels very fresh, and just makes me happy!

I quilted with gray thread to blend with the sashing on the front, and the contrast of the gray on aqua backing looks pretty cool.  I was pretty worried while quilting, because there's no way to hide little crossovers or thread nests, or any other mistakes that can happen when doing FMQ.  It all turned out okay though- actually better than I expected.

I've named this one "Coins on the Sidewalk", because the Kona Iron sashing reminds me of concrete- and I think it sounds catchy, ha!

I'm also entering this in Stitched in Color's String Fever Festival of Strings