Echo quilt (+ giveaway!)

I’m excited to show you this quilt today! A while back I received an unexpected package from Windham Fabrics that included this great bundle of their upcoming Artisan Cottons. I was excited to see that they were adding these gorgeous shot cottons – I’ve always loved the extra depth that these cross weaves provide. I learned (during this blog hop, actually!), that half of these colors are woven with two different colored threads to produce the main color, while the other half are woven with a color and white to produce a chambray look.

Anyway, I admired the fabrics, then added them to the stash, because I was busy with other projects. As I pulled fabrics for other potential quilts, I found I frequently pulled colors from this bundle – they paired so well with so many bundles I put together (this one, and this one, most recently…)

Then, as is often the case, I suddenly decided this quilt shown in Roderick Kiracofe’s book, Unconventional & Unexpected, was a quilt I had to make right now, and decided that this bundle was the perfect fabric for said quilt (too bad I had already used a few of the colors!)

While I usually like my like my quilt to be different enough from the inspiration that it feels like something new, sometimes I like a quilt so much that I want the same one for myself. This is the case here – I’ve always held a soft spot in my heart for string quilts (I’ve made quite a few, and have a tutorial on how to make a string block here!), and I really love how the blocks in this quilt use the same fabrics in an alternating fashion. I also am fond of the fact that mixed in with the solids, there are a number of other solids and stripes.

Since each block uses two colors, I decided to sew strips together into strip sets and then cut my square, rather than using foundation piecing. I think it was a lot faster, especially since I was able to cut a few squares from each strip set.

Like the inspiration quilt, I wanted to add in a few extra fabrics to help increase the size and to add a bit of extra interest – I raided my stash and was happy to stumble upon a couple Japanese bundles I had bought a while back from Westwood Acres (they have the latest First of Infinity and other great Japanese bundles available now) – the florals just seemed appropriate, and I was mighty excited to find the Suzuko Koseki stripes, especially since I could cut them so they ran perpendicular to the stripes in my blocks.

I love how the quilt turned out – I wish you could see it in person, because the shot cottons really add something extra that I’m not sure you can really see in these photos.

These new solids will be available in April, so be sure to look for them then! Or, leave a comment here to be entered to win this great fat quarter bundle of all of these beautiful colors. One comment per person, please! I’ll select a winner Friday evening.

UPDATE! A winner! Random.org selected #170, Tiffany, who said “Oh my word… so beautiful! I love stripes, and especially like the sweet little florals mixed in too. Stunning fabric.”

Thanks for all for playing along!

Also, be sure to check out these posts from earlier this week about the Artisan Cottons – each blog will also be hosting a giveaway in case you want to up your odds!

Monday:    Windham Fabrics (www.windhamfabsnipits.typepad.com)
Tuesday:   Rachael, Imagine Gnats (www.imaginegnats.com)
Wednesday:  Leanne, She Can Quilt (www.shecanquilt.ca)