Oklahoma Backroads - A Finished Quilt

Back in June, I had a bit of a scrap attack which resulted in four quilts in progress. This is not the one that I would have guessed would be finished first, but once I got rolling on it, I was hooked. It is the Oklahoma Backroads free pattern from Bonnie Hunter. The exciting part is that all of the fabric in this quilt were small pieces that could just as easily been tossed in the trash. It is bright and colorful and I just love it.

Here is the block. The traditional block is called Oklahoma Crossroads but since Bonnie reversed the placement of the dark and light fabrics, she cleverly named it Oklahoma Backroads. Once the blocks are arranged, there are some great secondary designs.

There was no holding back on the types of fabric used: traditional, modern, batik. All were welcome. The one adjustment that I did make was to be more strict in the dark and light values. After a few blocks, many of the mediums were kicked out and found a new home on the back of the quilt. The design on the front became muddy when too many mediums were in the mix.

Because the blocks are so busy with color and pattern, the quilting is simple and straight line. Each diagonal line formed by the triangles is quilted a quarter inch away from the seam. Once that was completed, one more diagonal line was added through the center of the big squares formed by the double line stitching. Rather than quilt the border with a different design, the quilting lines from the center flow onto the borders.

The border is a Nancy Halvorsen print. It frames the quilt without overwhelming it. The binding is dark with touches of color that is not overly busy. The goal for both the border and binding was to frame the quilt, balance out the busyness of the center while not being too plain and boring.

The back is a red and white calico. This fabric was given to me by a friend along with the inverse print. I am sure I had a dress made out of something very similar when I was a little girl.

The finished quilt is 46" x 61". This quilt is for sale in my etsy shop.

Linked up on Scraptastic Tuesday over at She Can Quilt.