Sunday, May 30, 2021

Carolina Lily

When I decided to make quilts for 4 of Fire Monkey's teachers, I had to wait to to start until I knew the favorite colors of the teachers.  With the Covid spike after the holidays, we didn't have any in-person school until the 2nd week of February.  That put me on a tight timeline, so I took any shortcut I could.  Turns out that we had two teachers with a favorite color of purple.  I knew right away that I would make Blueberry Hill for one, since I already had the strips cut and planned to make that pattern. I hadn't settled on the second purple quilt yet, and I was starting to get close enough to the end of the year as to be concerning.

Then I was looking through my scrap box of Island Batik fabrics and I found a set of four abandoned Carolina Lily blocks.  For last year's December medallion challenge, I designed a medallion with Carolina Lily blocks at the center.  Except when I started making the center blocks, I didn't consult my design and chose the fabrics from memory--and got it wrong.  When I realized my mistake, I decided I really liked my original design better, better enough to re-make the blocks.  Since those lilies were purple, they were perfect for my second purple teacher quilt.  I did need to add the stems in, but the mostly-finished blocks did give me a nice head start.

I went to EQ to play around with a layout.  During the Stay at Home Round Robin I realized how much I liked the look of a checkerboard border, so I played around with that.  I decided a nine-patch center would tie the whole quilt together.  I strip-pieced most of the border.  As a purple-lover myself, I'm really happy with how this turned out!

purple back from Backside Fabrics

This was my final teacher quilt and I did get it done in time!  All four have now been gifted and the teachers I've heard from seen really pleased and very surprised.  Finishing all four was my monthly goal with Patty at Elm Street Quilts.

Green Pinwheels

photo by K. Mellnik


Blueberry Hill


Bear Hugs


10 comments:

  1. Beautiful quilts! Such a thoughtful gesture! Have a happy and safe holiday!

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  2. Oh Emily, this is such a pretty quilt. Yay for finishing the quartet of quilts! I'm sure they will all be enjoyed!

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  3. Beautiful quilts, and so great you could use your lily blocks.

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  4. Congrats on four beautiful finishes. It's impressive you finished 4 quilts that quickly. The SIT has requested two teacher quilts for graduation from college and I need to start them this year to finish them by next May.

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  5. Congratulations on getting them all finished! I must say that the Carolina Lily is definitely my favorite!! Love the pattern with the checkerboard borders and especially in the purples!! My favorite color also! Great finishes!

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  6. Four beautiful quilts for 4 very lucky teachers! You have worked hard & these will definitely be a blessing to each teached.

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  7. Fabulous quilt and I love the checkerboard look too! Great quilts for the teachers....I wonder if you will still be doing this when he is in high school?

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  8. WOW Generous you!! My speed is potholders and baskets....Your quilts are wonderful xo

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  9. Wow, amazing! Congratulations on your completions and beautiful quilts! I remember being drawn to an antique Carolina Lily quilt in a book long ago. I love your updated version!

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