Chain Link Quilt Top for H2H

"Bolder and Older" describes some of the fabrics in this quilt, the last of four made in the Hands2Help Challenge this year.

Bolder prints, including florals and feathers and swirls (oh my!).  Older, as in used a while ago and there's maybe just a smidge left, perfect for the few strips needed.  Or an older fabric that deserves a chance to be useful and appreciated, but in a limited dose (if you know what I mean).

That could mean a lot going on, but the background fabric provides enough space so they all seem to play nicely together, I think.  

Thanks to Meredith for the tutorial a couple weeks ago in a Hands2Help blog post.  When I saw that the quilt was set on point and read through the instructions, I realized I already had the right size setting triangles cut and ready to go!  They were the ones I had unsewn from the String Baskets quilt and replaced with a different fabric.  Serendipity!

From there, it was a no-brainer to cut some 2-1/2 inch strips and make a few of these fun, big blocks.

I actually used up the background fabric before I got to the border, but I found a remnant of off-white, tone-on-tone shooting stars in the stash.  Close enough for rock 'n roll!

I'll be quilting and finishing this in the next few days, and then it will go to Quilty Hugs as part of the H2H Comfort Quilt Challenge.

Linking to:  Confessions of a Fabric Addict - H2H Link Up

Blooming String Baskets Quilt Flimsy

I think this is it, friends.  This is the string basket flimsy ("Blooming String Baskets") as of today. 

I was going to add a narrow stop border and a six-inch outer border, but for the life of me, I couldn't see it working.  I pondered this, that, and the other thing.  Auditioned various fabric combinations, but nothing seemed quite right. 
Then I got out the tape measure, and as is, it's a respectable 65x85 (-ish), which I am content with.  Why add more fabric and more weight for me to fling off in the middle of the night, mid-hot flash?  (Keeping it real.)

Now I could see, perhaps, some fun applique in those tan setting triangles.  But right now, as far as a vision on that, I've got nothin'.  Maybe something will occur to me (or not) while this one waits in the quilting queue.  I'm open for suggestions.

(Mama Mallard on the neighbor's roof this morning.)

As far as the layout of this quilt, I considered a few options and put them in a Facebook post for people to weigh in on.  

The consensus seemed to be the one with the baskets oriented vertically (an on-point setting--the third one above), so that's how it went together.

And then, halfway through sewing it together, I decided that setting the entire thing with Kona Snow was way too much...Snow.  Which is how I've felt about late winter/early spring in general, coincidentally.

So I took apart half the quilt and recut the setting triangles in a straw basket-colored fabric (yes, that's the way my brain worked it out).  The new version, I think, contains the flower baskets as a central theme, instead of having them sitting in a drift of Snow.

My favorite thing about this quilt was piecing the string baskets themselves.  (I talked a bit about how I did that in THIS post.)  

The inspiration came from the "American Picnic" quilt in the book Simply Strings by Rana Heredia.

Piecing, in general, is what I like most about making a quilt.  Do you have a favorite part of the process?

Linking to:  
Humble Quilts:  Linky Up! String Quilt Progress!
Confessions of a Fabric Addict:  Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?