{Throwback Thursday} Strawberry Fields

This quilt, finished in May of 2011, may mark the point where I lost my mind. It definitely marks the point where I realized  that, not only could I work with itty-bitty pieces, they're my favorite thing about quilting.

Pattern: Strawberry Fields, free over at Humble Quilts  

There are 385 pieces in that 21"x26" quilt. The blocks finish at 4 1/2" and it was the first time I'd ever made a block that small with that many pieces in it. I saw the pictures of the quilt and was smitten, plunging in without really thinking about how hard it might be or whether I could  pull it off.  The fabrics are from whatever scrap bag I was digging through on that day. The background was yardage I had on hand, also from a scrap bag. It's a plunge in and make it with whatever's easy to grab quilt, made easier by the fact that I had a big piece of fabric in the perfect color.

As soon as the binding was done, I hung the little quilt over my sewing machine. It hasn't budged since that day, but I tend to pin little blocks to it. Unlike Strawberry Fields, my cake stand quilt stalled after the first block. I don't know why -- I loved that little block and every time I glance over at it I tell myself to pull some fabrics and print out a fresh copy of the pattern.