It's a bird, it's a frog, it's a cat, it's a bat...

It's Super Houndstooth! I came across this mega-format look back in January and knew I wanted to make it someday. It's much easier to discern when looking at the whole quilt (below).

My inspiration for this was a pattern by V and Co. The pattern was available to purchase via download, but I opted to work it out for myself. An though it's quite dramatic in high contrast colors or black and white, I've seen it done in a multi-color palette of bright prints as done by Kim Lapacek, from her pattern by StudioCherie. She has used hand-dyed and batik fabrics. Be sure to check it out—it's a completely different 'vibe' and is quite striking! It reminds me of a beautiful watercolor painting.

At the right is my Photoshop-generated planning image. I think I've mentioned before that, so far, all my quilts start out as a digital Photoshop file comprised of scanned or photographed fabric. It helps me to work out different issues and processes long before I start rotary cutting my fabric.

This wound up being 9 x 9 blocks of 5-inch (finished) squares. There are 25 solid brown; 16 solid pink; and 41 diagonal 4-piece blocks. I was delighted to discover the 4-piece blocks are identical, only rotated 180˚ to work on a brown or pink row. Tah dah!

I can hardly wait to meet Miss Cairo and give her something she'll have as she grows up. The backing material is called Pine Boughs. I am also thinking I might want to get names embroidered by someone with that capability. My appliqué work is not what I'd like. By the way, these were all fabrics I bought on our May 21st stop at Prairie Quilt in Hennessey. We were up in Perry for the high school graduation of Luke Andrew, who is soon on is way to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs this month. We ambled our way back home via Enid and Hennessey for each of our shopportunities—Tom at a plastic model shop in Enid, and mine at Prairie Quilt. Compromise is good!

One of the things I've done with these past four quilts is make a 'mini' for each—maybe the size of a block or two—in this case about 11 x 5.5 inches. I use scraps of the same fabrics (top and backing) and batting. On each, I try out different stitching options; play with binding; adjusting tension; thread tests, etc. On this one, I even made some notes! It's great having a 'practice space' and have a keepsake memento, if it is a gift quilt. Of the five quilts I've completed this year, three left our house as gifts. I think that's a pretty good percentage! I love getting to share this creativity with my family and friends!

It's fortunate I finished the quilt when I did—this is what was left when I finished using a decorative stitch securing the binding. I'm still using Coats Cotton for most of my piecing and quilting. Occasionally I use some Gutermann or Mettler but I guess I'm a cheapskate. One of my Bernina teachers recommended using the those because they're made in Europe just like my machine, and are apparently twisted opposite of Coats & Clark. Maybe someday I'll take an up-close look at it.

It's been a busy day. Overnight, I signed up for a Freemotion Quilting class at Sooner Quilts in Guthrie. A friend of mine said she was taking it and it sounded like a good idea. I also discovered the teacher is someone I worked with 12–14 years ago. Today I had the chance to visit Quilter's Corner in Midwest City where I bought four new fat quarters. On the way home, we stopped by Oklahoma Quiltworks and they had my June BOM ready. And when we drove up, I saw my first online order from fabrics.com on my doorstep. Whew—what a day! 

Time to go play with my fabric!