Friday check in: simple design = visual impact

 

 Earlier this week I came across a pattern called "Sweet Caroline" in a stack of torn-from-magazines quilt patterns (Easy Quilts, Fall, 2011).  I thought I'd give it a try.   Here's the finished quilt!

[The binding is dark blue. The cream-colored design wall looks like another border, but it's not.]

The designer used 5" squares for 4.5" blocks. I used 4.5" squares (and 2.5" strips for the four-patches).  It's 55 x 61.

I intended to make the quilt with fabric from the  guild giveaway last month but I couldn't achieve the color balance and visual texture that I had in mind. The four-patches and one column use the giveaway fabric. The rest is from my stash.

This is much less scrappy than my usual style. In fact, it was sort of uncomfortable to limit the fabric choices!  I'm already considering the design using different fabrics of the same color in each column [e.g. ten different greens, ten different oranges] with black/white for the four patches.  

The back is made from two fabrics.  They really blend, don't they?  (The 15" purple piece on the right is separate from the large blue/purple stripe.) 

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday   

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?