Bigger blocks rock, y'all. I have always loved the Road to Tennessee pattern, but I've shied away from making one because traditionally the blocks are pretty small, and sometimes I'm just a little bit lazy. It's okay. I admit it. When I got the woodland themed fabrics for this baby quilt though, and saw that the animal prints were fairly large, I figured they would work well to size up the traditional RTT block. I love how it turned out, and how quickly it went together!
I used just nine different fabrics, with four 8.5" squares cut from each one. The white corner squares were cut 4.5." The blocks finish at 8 inches, making the entire quilt 48" square. I think this is a great use of bigger prints, or even a small bundle of fabric that may be difficult to mix with others.
When I took this photo, I intended to just give a close up of the stippling and a few of the prints, and I only realized later that this pic actually shows all nine fabrics. I think they all play so well together, considering that they are mixed from my stash, and not from a single collection.
The backing is pieced with wide stripes, using up most of my leftovers, and that darkest navy blue just begged to be used in the binding.
The slate blues and smoky grays in this quilt, along with the woodland animal prints, inspired the name, Smoky Mountain Hike, and it is going to look amazing as the focal point in the nursery. With Thanksgiving approaching at breakneck speed, I am so glad I was able to check this one off my list!




