A picnic quilt and some upcycling

Right after Matt left for Seattle I divulged in some retail therapy.  And within a few days I had a fat quarter pack of Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadow in my hot little hands!  (BTW, Hawthorne Threads is fabulous!  Great prices, great selection, and FAST shipping!  And no, I wasn't paid to say that, lol!)

I loved the darker colors, and thought this fabric would make a great picnic quilt.

I cut each fat quarter into 1-2.5" wide strip and 9-5" squares.
The 2.5" strips were for binding-I had to add a 20" long piece of some kona to make it all of the way around the quilt.
With the 5" squares I made 16 9-patch units.  I then cut those apart, rearranged them, and sewed the top together in a disappearing 9-patch arrangement.  There's a great disappearing 9-patch tutorial here.
There are several different layouts for the disappearing 9-patch, and I just did some flickr browsing until I had a good idea of what I liked.  You can also play around with the chopped up pieces before you sew them back together!

The upcycle in this quilt is the backing.  Matt bought me this red and black blanket back in college, and when one of our dogs was a puppy he chewed a hole in one of the corners. :(  I couldn't bring myself to toss it, so it's been in the basement for awhile.  What a sweet reminder every time Addy and I go to the park now!

I did some simple straight line quilting on this.  I quilted a single line through the narrow pieces and a double line through the larger squares.  I didn't mark the lines or use a guide on my machine, so they are a bit wonky.  I was afraid that I would hate them when the quilt was off of the frame, and I was prepared to rip it all out.  But I think they look fine, especially now that the quilt has been washed and crinkled up a bit.  I did have a few problems with the backing stretching and making the top a little poofier than I would have liked.  I should have anticipated the stretch, since the back is sort of a fleecey material.  I'm trying to let go of the imperfections, though.  After all, it is a picnic quilt!  I'm sure the first time we drop a pb&j sandwich on it, I'll forget all about the poofiness and the wonky quilting!