Squishy In the Mail

I got a squishy envelope in the mail last week. Kathie at Inspired by Antique Quilts did a little giveaway and I was one of the lucky recipients of her generosity. The deal was to make two mini's using the two sets of 1/2 square triangles that were sewn from the 3" blocks she mailed. My method was to split up the squares into light and dark, and then pair them together. I tried to put the darkest light with the darkest dark for contrast and other than that, I just like to put blue with green, red print shirthings with brown and keep it mixed up.

All the triangles got sewn up and I took one pile, pressed, trimmed and started to design with them.

Here was one option I worked with. It all seemed too jumbled for me, so I kept at it with different borders and layouts.

The finished first piece.  This one is for me, as I wanted red on the border. I know, not very original on the setting, but I liked the simplicity of the design and the fabrics are so interesting that that is what draws you in to take a closer look.

Decided that I wanted the binding to match the border and after cutting up the left overs from the border, all I have left is a partial strip less than 2" and a small square.  These are perfect pieces to go into my CW scrap bag.  I'm working out of it for my Medallion piece.

Next up is the second set of 1/2 square triangles.  I wanted to finish one and put it away before I started on the second layout.  I didn't want to be influenced by my first piece as the colors are identical.  Since it is going to my gal pal who doesn't quilt, and lives on a farm, I knew the red would not be a border choice.  Out came the browns. 
"side note"
My gf and I  have a standing joke about what is "Up North". We both live right on the US/Canada border, I'm in WA and she is in BC.  She was at a party at my place one night and asked if someone was coming.  One of my US friends replied, "No, they have gone up north".  My gf is thinking north, as in Dawson Creek, Prince George, Whitehorse; all places that someone from BC would think of when they here the term "up north". She asked where they were and was told Burnaby, that's 20 minutes away from here, so certainly not what we would call north.  We had a very big laugh over that, and we continue to enjoy the joke.  It's funny, most of my US friends all refer to British Columbia as "up north" yet none of my BC friends call WA "down south". It we heard that term here, we would think Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, etc. 

OK, back to the quilt.  Since she is getting this, I thought I'd call it "Up North". Pretty good, huh? It's great when you can piece and quilt a joke into something that a friend will see and smile whenever she thinks about it!

Here are the fraternal twins, side by side.  Yes, the red one is definitely my style and I'm confident that Up North will be loved by my gal pal who doesn't own a needle and thread!

These are fast, fun, and will be perfect 'take alongs' for hand quilting them.  I'm seeing baptist fans on the red border, I'm not sure yet what the brown one will have.  Both will be bound with their same border fabrics.  I might look for some fun backings, something completely contradictory to the front, just for fun!

Thanks Kathie, I love both of these and it was a great side project for me this weekend.

Sharon