Aviary Picnic Patchwork

I finished the top to my first picnic/wedding gift quilt. That was really quick! I very much enjoyed the instant gratification this simple patchwork provided, and even more since it turned out so pretty.

I joined the squares up in pairs (one linen, one print) then put all those in a bag, shook it up and pulled out random sets to sew into strips of four. Then I put those strips back in the bag, went to my trusty living room floor "design wall" and started pulling out strips to make rows with 3 strip sets (12 blocks across). After all 12 rows were laid out, I moved some pieces around until I was happy with the mix. Then it was just a lot of long, straight lines and voila!

I used 8 fat quarters and 1.5 yards of linen (54" wide). The squares started out at 6 inches, so the final top has 5.5 inch squares of these lovely prints. That makes it about 5 and a half feet square, a good size to spread out on the grass and have a little picnic. Up next: piecing the backing and cutting binding!