Coral Sea for Two

Upon making my plane reservation for Australia in September, I started looking for a quilt pattern.  I knew it had to be simple and striking and I wanted it to be blue and white.  I pored over my books and magazines and found what I wanted in a very old issue of American Patchwork and Quilting from 2000.  It called for 7 different solid shades of blue but that just wasn't enough for me--I wanted all the colors of the sea!  I found a gorgeous pack of Robert Kaufman hand-dyed fat quarters at my local fabric store and with the addition of one more off the bolt, plus a tone on tone white, I was set.  The directions called for making a template for the triangle-rectangle and then cutting out 252 of them in white.  Gulp.  Luckily after cutting a bunch I realized I could not flip the template.  Okay, set those mistakes aside.  I cut a couple of blocks out of the blues and then decided to make a sample block.  Oh, my, this was a fussy star!  Good thing I made the sample as I would have ended up cutting off every single point in each block if I hadn't adjusted my sizing!  So, lesson learned.  I worked on the quilt for six weeks on and off and finally got the label sewed on in the car on the way to the airport.  I hope this collage works for you--it did on my preview!

Susie and Jon loved it and Susie said it would live on their boat. She was amazed at the unexpected gift and so so happy.  As we were out snorkeling, I said to her, "Look, all the colors of your quilt are here"...and they were!  Susie's son Matt now believes that I can make anything in six weeks. He was floored at the amount of pieces and pointed out to several people that I "sewed this bit to that bit, and those bits to those bits, all those bits to all these bits...", it was very funny!  Matt and Jessie plan to come to America someday and have promised to stop by to pick up their quilt.  Oh, well, it's on the list, Matty!