Birth of a Unicorn

This story begins with a gift of a charm pack of purple and green fabrics given to me by my daughter-in-law.  Little did I know what that would lead to!

I didn't really have a plan, other than to make something for my favorite purple lover.  She happens to be my granddaughter, Illaya.

I recently made this quilt for her sister BettyMae.  

I loved how that one turned out so much that I decided to try and make a purple version.  Well, that was the plan anyway!  I started turning those charm packs into 9 patches.  These squares are 2 1/2" inches unfinished.  I ended up with twelve of these.  All different.

So then I started searching for some nice purple border fabric to go with it. and found this pretty purple floral stripe fabric  by Maywood Studios.

If I was going to make a quilt like the other one, I still needed some small purple floral to go in between the 9 patches.  We (Illaya's mom and I) never did find something we just totally loved so I was getting tired of this project not going anywhere and decided I was going to cut apart the white floral strip and use it as sashing.  So this is what I did next . . .

It was meant to be!  

I only had about 6 inches of this white stripe left after adding the sashing.

Then I added the wide purple strip around the edges . . .

At this point, I realized that it would probably look a little strange if I added any more to it so decided to stop right there.  This is going to be a pretty small quilt.  Illaya isn't a baby anymore but she is still pretty young so a small size will still work.  At this point it measures 47 x 39.

Now . . . time to decide what goes on the back.  It does help to do the searching along with the mommy.  She spied this panel and said it was perfect as Illaya has a fondness for unicorns.  A very non-traditional choice for a quilt back but I'm going for it!  Oh the fun stories I can tell her inspired by this picture!  And it's got some lovely purples and lilacs and greens in it so will work very nicely as a back.  For not having a specific plan, things are working out pretty good so far!

 And the panel will fit on the back with just a little bit of border added to it.  Color works, size works, this is meant to be!

Now to figure out how to get it up to size.  I was thrilled to find two fat quarters in my own Etsy store!  (I recently bought somebody else's destash for resale but will probably end up using them myself!)  These two fabrics have the most beautiful blues and must have come from the same design line as they both have shiny gold accents in them.

I cut them both into 2 1/2" strips and sewed the strips together to border the unicorn panel.   It's almost like they were meant to be together!  And yet another sign this was meant to be.  The strips were the perfect length to fit two on each side with just a tiny bit to spare.

Don't you just love it when things fall together so perfectly??

  I ended up with enough border fabric to wrap a around a nine patch block to make a little matching pillow.  Now I just need to find some binding fabric and probably use the same fabric for the back of the pillow.  

Illaya's birthday is in October so I've got a few weeks to get this quilted and finish the pillow.  Hopefully, the next time you see this quilt it will be wrapped around a smiling little girl!  My this has been the most satisfying project!

Linking to:

From Bolt to Beauty

Peacock Party
Confessions of a Fabric Addict