Little Rubies

The Little Rubies blocks are sewn together, which means I met my One Monthly Goal for February.  Whew!  It was a challenging one.

I don't usually count pieces, but when I put the top on the floor and wondered whether it was square, curiosity got the best of me.  The X blocks have 88 squares.  So many tiny pieces, so many seams, each one an opportunity for a block to be out of kilter and then a top to follow. 

This quilt top has been challenging in several ways.  First, the browns.  When I began cutting and sewing I intended to make 3½" 4-patch blocks in reds and browns, equal amounts of two colors using lots of scraps.  But those first 4-patch blocks were boring.  I decided on double 4-patch blocks using brown as the background.  Then at some point I realized that tiny double/triple 4-patch blocks would add some interest.  When I made those two choices I had no idea how much brown fabric the blocks would need.  (If I'd though about it a little more I might have reconsidered....)

The second challenge was creating a quilt that looks unified despite the variation in browns.  It is a scrap quilt but I didn't want one brown to take over a whole section of the quilt.  With this quilt pattern I'm not sure so many browns with variations if value, prints, etc., could have resulted in unity among them.  Some of the browns were cut at 3½", some at 2", others at 1¼". 

The third challenge has been taking photographs that show true-to-life colors of the reds and browns.  The photos lean toward the washed out side or toward the zing-of-red side.  In life, the colors are somewhere between the colors in the photos in this post.  (How I wish for a place with perfect lighting to hang a quilt for photographing it.)

All along I imagined using a piece of brushed cotton, brown with narrows strips of muted red and tan, for the back.  As I was sewing the last rows together I had what I thought was a brilliant idea for the back:  a large scale print with a brown background and red flowers.  What fun to turn this basically brown quilt over to see a bright pattern on the back.  I scouted around for fabrics that might work but none stood out to me as just right.  And then I realized that, after all, this is a scrap quilt and I should go with the fabric I have on hand.  (I know I could piece a back but there are already too many seams on the front to easily hand quilt and I don't want to add more seams than necessary to the back.)  I hope to cut, wash, and dry the brushed cotton today or tomorrow.  Depending on how it weathers the wash, I'll use it -- or scout for other backing fabric.

I neglected to say how pleased I am with this layout.  I love the tiny red diagonals enclosing the larger double-4-patch circles/squares.  Early on those tiny, red squares running diagonally across the quilt reminded me of strings of rubies, hence the name, Little Rubies.  I love how the reds of the rubies transition along the strands, going from bright to medium, from dark to printed dark, etc.

I'm linking this post to One Monthly Goal February Finish Link-up at Elm Street Quilts.  Thanks for hosting, Patty.

I'm also linking to
> Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday (TGIFF) at What a Hoot Quilts
> Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts
> Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Thank you for hosting, ladies.

--Nancy.