Tula Pink's "Lil' Stinker" in my "Dodging the Skunk" quilt

Whew! I hustled and got my quilt, “Dodging the Skunk” OR “Skunks and Wild Roses” lap quilt done this past weekend. It was a perfect weekend for finishing up quilts…so cold here, that it broke the old record for the low temperature set back in 1917!

There is straight line quilting along the grid lines created by the big blocks. And free motion quilting inside both the skunk blocks and the chaining alternate blocks.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to quilt all that negative space in the alternate blocks, but when I started out on the first one, I realized I could quilt in a circle around the block without needing to stop. I was so delighted to see I had created a wreath of floppy wild roses. What could be better for a skunk quilt??

The skunks are outlined in their blocks, and there are swirls quilted around the skunks. Think whatever you will about that!!

For more info about my quilt pattern, look back at my last post.

I wasn’t sure if I was really going to like this skunky quilt. But now, because of the free motion quilting, I think it’s one of my favorites!

Tula Pink's "Lil' Stinker" in my Design "Dodging the Skunk"

Here it is! I’ve come up with a design to use my half yard of Tula Pink’s “Lil’ Stinker” in her Line Work Collection from Free Spirit fabrics, and a fat quarter bundle of her Pom Poms and Tent Stripes.

I wanted a chain for the alternating blocks and this one is fun, especially when I switch the direction of the chain every two rows to create a zig-zag.

The orange color I added is the complement of the turquoise and aqua and is also on the color wheel next to the red orange that Tula Pink favors. The dulled yellow green isn’t my favorite, but it was in my stack of fat quarters so I decided to be brave and use it.

The skunk fussy cut easily at 6 inches square. I tried cutting them at 6 !/2 inches but it meant wasting a lot of fabric and I only had a half yard. 6 inches lets me use almost all the skunks in the fabric. The finished blocks will be 8 inch square. The small squares cut at 2 1/2 inches which is great.

I really wanted another color as my background but white just seemed to play best. If I’d had just the right aqua, I think that would have worked too. But the skunks are printed on a white-white so the white background is really perfect.

I’m looking forward to seeing this quilt come together!