a finish and a now what?

Photo taken by David Morrison

I finished my black and batiks quilt on Tuesday! It was made for a very special friend who had some unexpected life junk happen to her, and instead of grumbling and complaining and allowing the weight of her situation to cave in on her, she has responded with strength and grace.

I knew I wanted it to be a quilt full on sunset colors. My friend and I are both from the southwest, and the sunsets there have no equal. (Also, the wide open skies and the lack of trees do wonders to provide viewers with the ability to actually see the sunset.) I then set about researching blocks and getting to work on quilty math, which I secretly enjoy, even if I usually abhor anything math-related.

Close-up of the above photo. Still taken by David Morrison.

1. New Mexico Block (Used this tutorial for inspiration.)
2. Star within a Star
3. Ray of Hope (Used this PDF.)
4. Carpenter's Knot
5. Hope Block
6. Illinois Block (Used this tutorial for inspiration.)

The other blocks I drew up from photos and sized and pieced them to my preferences. All six blocks finished at 20" square, meaning I had a lot of quilty math on my hands. It was also my largest quilt yet, finishing at 52" x 62".

So, it's done. After piecing and quilting and hand-sewing like a mad woman, it's finally complete, and now I'm faced with my long to-do list and this weird hesitancy. What do I jump into first? But I'll figure that out because I always do. Probably my sequintastic blog hop post...then the HST BOM...then maybe my holiday fabric will be here and I can start my BOF blocks...then maybe my tote because the fabric arrived...then maybe.....