a summery donation quilt

We've had so much excitement at my house in the past three weeks - Thing 1 finished her junior year of college and moved home, Thing 2 graduated from high school, Thing 1 moved away again for a summer internship, and lastly Thing 2 performed in her final year dance recitals and celebrated a birthday this past weekend. No lazy days of summer here!

I have carved out some time to sew most days though and finally completed this donation quilt that I started last November. The free pattern is called "New Wave" by Elizabeth Hartman, and you can download it here.  If you are a long time follower of elsie's girl you might remember the other New Wave quilt I finished in 2011.

This quilt was made specifically for donation to a local breast cancer care center. My quilt guild is currently supporting this local medical facility by providing many donations of handmade comfort quilts for recently diagnosed women in our community who are having surgeries and beginning treatment.

The pattern uses only 12 fat quarters and an additional 1.25 yards of contrast fabric.  I think this combination of fuchsia, lime green, and orange accented with the black makes a bright and cheery quilt! My friend Isis (isis_custom_quilts on Instagram) used her new long arm quilting machine to quilt it for me, and I love the pattern of swirled daisies and the lime green thread she chose.

The quilt backing fabric is still cheerful but not as bright - black line drawings of daisies on a white background.

The bias cut black and white stripe binding and a Crystal Lake Modern Quilt Guild label finish the quilt perfectly :)  It measures 51" x 64" - slightly longer than the pattern is written because I used the Wrights Fat Cats template by Darlene Zimmerman rather than the template provided in the pattern.

The instructions for using the Fat Cats template with this quilt pattern used to be found on Elizabeth Hartman's website, but while writing this I realized they are no longer posted there.  So I'm including some brief tips from my pattern notes about how using this template changes the construction and size of the quilt top.

• you'll need 1.25 yards of sashing fabric (the pattern calls for 1 yard)
• cut your sashing pieces 2" x 11" rather than 2" x 10"
• use the 1.5" and 10.5" lines on the Fat Cats template to cut your wedge pieces
• finished quilt size using 12 fat quarters will be 51" x 64" rather than 51" x 55"

I've already got some fabrics chosen for my next donation quilt - a 56" x 70" 16-patch quilt in batik fabrics that remind me of a fiery summer sunset :)