Summer Bloom

 I'm pleased to share "Summer Bloom" as my finish for this first week of September.

 

 

I originally sewed up Sprout blocks with the intention of making a pillow.  That idea wasn't quite working though, so I decided that I should make some more blocks and turn them into a mini quilt.

 

 

Inspiration struck once I had two sets of three Sprout blocks made. I realized that they would look wonderful placed mirror imaged to one another with a single flower block between them.

 

The combination made a bold table runner with lots of scrappy goodness.



 I kept my quilting simple - straight lines and cross hatching, but opted to use 12wt cotton thread in white to add dimension to those lines.  The flower center was pebble quilted using 50wt cotton thread to flatten it and give contrast to the petals (which were outlined with the 12wt thread). 

 To keep the focus on the blocks, I used a low volume fabric for borders and another low volume print for the binding. Once again, I chose to machine bind - which I have come to love (now that I have a technique worked out that gives repeated success) and appreciate (for the time it saves!).

 

Here's to savouring summer blooms while we can as fall seems to be making it's appearance with the start of a new month.  September has already brought cooler mornings and leaves starting to turn.

 I'm linking up my latest finish with Amanda Jean and friends over at Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday!