My Favorite Quilt: City Sampler

Long time readers of my blog might be relieved to know that this will be the last post about the Tula Pink City Sampler!  It's quilted, it's bound, it's done.  I decided to blog about it via the current Sew Mama Sew My Favorite Quilt Series by answering some questions:

• Tell us about your favorite quilt. When did you make it? What pattern did you use? What fabrics?

I started this quilt (almost) exactly a year ago to participate in the Tula Pink City Sampler Quilt Along hosted by Sew Sweetness.  I used the book: Tula's Pink's City Sampler: 100 Modern Quilt Blocks and made every block in the book.  It took me a while to decide what stash fabrics to use but I finally settled on a mix of Tula Pink's Prince Charming and Salt Water collections as well as lots of blenders from my stash.

Pictures in this post are taken at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and Red Rock Canyon- we've been in touristy mood this past week with having my mom visit us this past week from NH.  

• Have your shown it at any quilt shows or entered it in any contests?

Surprisingly for me, I kept pace with the City Sampler QAL and linked up my 3 blocks every week for several months.  Towards the end of the QAL, I was randomly chosen for some great prizes: thread, batting, a pattern, and a fabric store gift certificate.

• What memories or people does the quilt make you think of?

It serves as a momento of my last year living in the Boston area: it was the last major project I allowed myself to tackle before our major cross-country move to Colorado.  It also reminds me of my mom, because she kindly brought it to my favorite longarm rental place in Burlington, MA (Laurena's) and babysat the Statler stitching the "Modern Maze" pattern all over it.

• What do you like best about the quilt?

I love the pattern of the quilt because I don't normally gravitate towards samplers but it definitely has a modern feel, which I love.  I am also proud that it came out well and was more challenging than the typical patterns quilts I choose to make.

• How did you grow as a quilter while making it?

I really knew that an accurate 1/4" seam would be essential throughout making all of the blocks.  I also splurged on some "Best Press" to help make those tiny pieces behave.  The funny thing is that I think I got a little cocky about how well the blocks were coming together because when it was time to assemble them into the grid layout - I discovered that maybe my 1/4" seam hadn't improved as much as I thought it had.  It all came together though and I was pretty stubborn about not redoing any of the blocks.

• If you could make this quilt again, what (if anything) would you do differently?

I am pretty jealous of the Marci Girl Designs version, made of one of my most favorite fabric collections: Constellations.  I could see myself making this quilt again for sure but I would definitely do something completely different (different fabrics, color scheme, layout, etc).

• Where is the quilt now?

It's still on our wall, hanging on the curtain quilt rod we installed to ease photographing large quilts.  When I am tired of staring at it (the beauty of the sampler style and novelty fabrics is that there is always something different and interesting to look at), it will come down and go on my bed for a while.

• Last notes on the quilt:

Here is a picture of the back- I put a bunch of the Salt Water and Prince Charming prints to form a scrappy back- something I never do but decided to try because  those prints don't coordinate with the rest of my stash very well.  There's also a rectangle of improvisationaly pieced scraps that I made but wasn't sure what to do with.  I bound the quilt in this Happy Go Lucky stripe.  The quilt measures 90" square.

Linking up with Sew Mama Sew, WIP Wednesday, Tula Tuesday, and Finish it up Friday.