A Penny Patch Finish

Here is my finished Penny Patch quilt!  I finished it mid December, but am only now getting the chance to share photos.  I fell hard in love with this one.  So much so I've decided to keep it for myself :)

I highly recommend the tutorial/quilt-along by Rachel over at Stitched in Color.  Such a fun quilt to think about colors, and its easy to put together.  The part that drove me the craziest was how long it took to quilt.  I first only quilted a single "X" through each 6" finished block, but the quilting done by Jolene of Blue Elephant Stitches on her Penny Patch quilt pushed me to do the denser grid.  I am so glad I spent the time doing it!  It adds such a wonderful dense texture to the quilt.  I know I chickened out on my original plan to do dogwood quilting, but I feel I want to first try that on a smaller project.

I had a really hard time deciding on a backing fabric for this quilt.  Use a dark plum? Or a bright pink?  Or a creamy low-volume print!?  In the end I am so thrilled with my choice, a Juliana Horner print from JoAnns.  I love that the creamy background of the roses seems to change colors in different light, sometimes looking more white or more pink.

I couldn't help including that last picture with my toddler's horse.  They were both helping with the photo shoot!  When my son saw this finished quilt he happily exclaimed "Oooh mama do that?!" That boy sure knows how to melt this mama's heart.

Linking up with all the finished Penny Patch Quilts...