calico rose, top completed

Calico rose
96 inches square
From a sew-a-long on Deanna's delightful blog Wedding Dress Blue:
https://weddingdressblue.wordpress.com/calico-rose-quiltalong/

Changes I made:
I used flying geese for the star points instead of half-square triangles
I used 16-patches for the border

Look carefully for the orientation of the blocks for the border.
I sewed together the border blocks with the block seams perpendicular to the edge of the quilt. I sewed the border pieces to the center flipping the border seams to nest with the center seams. I then stay-stitched the edges before pressing to these nested orientations.

This is the second quilt I've made from Deanna's pattern. The first, made in 2015, belongs to my sister Janna. My sister Beth asked me if I could some day make her one like it. That day is today.

Over the past few years if I was using a 3 1/2 in strip I would cut a few triangles for this quilt. I keep my 2 inch scrap squares at the ready in shoeboxes and there are fabrics here from decades of work--some of my mom's scraps are included too.
The square prints parts of the blocks were done last year during a busy semester and were welcomed mindless sewing.
Last week I pulled out my Studio Cutter and cut the 3 1/2 inch and 2 inch solid strips to make the remaining parts.While this feels it went together quickly, it really has had years of prep work behind it.

I have an appointment for a drive-by drop-off with my longarm quilter this week. We decided a wool batt would be best to keep the quilt from being overwhelmingly heavy.

Thank you Deanna, for sharing this great design.

My obsessive pressing made sure every seam in the quilt top nested.

star block pressing

alternate block pressing

16-patch border orientation and pressing