FITF: squared (a finished quilt, and a giveaway!)

It’s so fun to have a finished quilt! It feels like it’s been a long time – my time these days has been taken up with home showings, appraisals, inspections… and of course lots of cleaning. Not so much fun, so it’s even more fun than usual to have a new quilt to admire.

And oh man, this one is one I love looking at! I’ve collected little pieces of these Maze and Vale prints, which are all hand printed in Australia by Leslie Keating. She periodically sells little sample packs (sign up for her newsletter to be alerted to when they’re available, but beware, they go fast!), and I grabbed a few here and there along with a few panels of my favorite prints, and recently I felt I finally had enough variety to make up a quilt out of all Maze and Vale prints.

I made up a bunch of squares of a variety of sizes, alternating the Maze and Vale prints with a solid white. I talked a bit more about putting it together in my previous post about this quilt.

All along though, I kept dreaming about the perfect backing fabric, namely one of Leslie’s drop cloths (which she also cuts and offers on her site as artwork). I bugged her about buying one more times than I should have, and even though she said the fabric she uses for a drop cloth wouldn’t be cozy or soft for a quilt back, I still couldn’t get it out of my head. I probably should have stopped, but really, I was pretty obsessed. And finally Leslie agreed to do her last printing in her old studio using a softer piece of cloth for the drop cloth.

It was even better than I imagined, and when I received it I spent lots of time studying it and photographing it.

I just love all these overlapping images!

And now this quilt is truly two sided! I can’t thank Leslie enough for this gorgeous backing for my quilt!

But wait! Leslie has a little something for you too. She’s selected these 5 panels for one lucky winner (they happen to be some of my favorites as well!).

Leave a comment here and ~~I’ll select a winner on Thursday~~. This giveaway is open to all. Please, one comment per person. (Don’t worry if you don’t see your comment immediately – it may need to be approved on my end and I’ll go through and do that periodically.)

UPDATE: A winner has been selected! Random.org has selected #487, Jackie Carpenter, who said “I’m so glad you got that quilt back- it is out of this world and spot-on, just-right for this quilt! Well done. Inspiring!”

Thanks to all for your wonderful comments and for taking the time to leave a comment. A big congrats to Jackie – I hope you’ll love these beautiful Maze & Vale panels!