Carolina Dancing

About a year and a half ago, I was working on a quilt while my Dad was visiting.  He mentioned that someday, he'd like a quilt--no hurry or timeline.  Since he's the only one in my immediate family that doesn't have a quilt I've made, it seemed like a totally reasonable request.

Finished!

That was September 2015.  I decided to use Scrap Dance Tango, the 2016 mystery quilt by Carole of From My Carolina Home for my Dad's quilt--when it was still a mystery and I had no idea what it would look like.  (Interestingly, the quilt I was finishing when Dad mentioned he wanted a quilt was Carole's 2015 mystery, the original Scrap Dance.)

all quilt pictures need a dump truck!

I chose Kona Blueberry as the background fabric for my Scrap Dance Tango. My Dad got his master's degree from the University of North Carolina and is a big Tarheel fan, and the Blueberry looked to be a really good match for Carolina Blue.

I set very few limits on my scraps for this quilt. I did not use batiks, solids, novelty fabrics, or anything that was too close to the background fabric.  Beyond that it was anything goes!  Lights, darks, stripes, florals, anything.

When the mystery started, it turned out that I needed 1,100 half square triangles for the double bed size.  The mystery started in January.  I think I finally finished making HSTs in December?  The mystery had long since been revealed at that point, and I did have some blocks completed. I pushed on.  I knew Dad would be visiting in June, and his 75th birthday fell during the time he'd be with us.  With a hard deadline, I spent most of the spring trying to get the top done.

back

When I finally finished the top, I sent it to Irene of Patchwork & Pastry to quilt.  Irene & I met online last year during the New Quilt Blogger's Hop and met in person in February at QuiltCon--she generously offered me the extra bed in her Airbnb, allowing me to take the trip!  We talked about her longarm services one morning when we walked to breakfast.  I've sent exactly 2 quilts to a longarmer previously and they were both over a decade ago to a quilt shop where I was living in Michigan during grad school.  Irene assured me that even imperfect quilts deserve to be quilted and I knew that when I finally finished Tango, I'd send it to her. She knew I was trying to get it done for Dad's birthday and put a rush on it, even though I told her I knew it was short notice and as long as I had it to give Dad before he left the east coast, that was fine.  But thanks to Irene, I gave it to him on his birthday!!

close-up of the quilting

When it came time for a name, I didn't stay with Scrap Dance Tango.  My Dad isn't really a tango kind of guy.  But I like that Carole has kept the Scrap Dance theme and names each of her mysteries with a specific dance, so I wanted to keep the dance theme.  I picked "Carolina Dancing" because it kept that theme, I used Carolina Blue for the dominant color, and both the designer (Carole) and the maker (me) live in North Carolina. 

I have to admit, this is not my favorite.  I think it comes down to the block not being symmetrical or distinct enough for me.  Maybe it's because I didn't limit my scraps to one color family and mixed darks and lights.  I don't know.  But I'm thrilled it's finished and I love Carole's yearly mysteries and my Dad is thrilled which is really all that matters.

Scrap Dance Tango was #3 on my list of Q2 goals for the globally hosted finish along.