"Midsummer" - A Finished Quilt

A year after it was pieced, my lantern quilt is finally done!

All smiles over here!

 I was so inspired by the movie Tangled last year! I played with 5 different lantern block designs to put together a calming quilt, using a jelly roll of Kate Spain's Good Fortune fabric. I chose Kona Purple as the background to mirror the night sky. This quilt reminds me of calm and breezy summer nights with my family.

I had a lot of trouble getting the purple to show up in its correct shade. This is the best attempt, sadly. However, some of the individual blocks below are more accurate!

As for the name, did you fellow US citizens know (I didn't know much until I researched) that Midsummer is a huge celebration/tradition in Europe? I've read about it in literature but I didn't realize its prevalence. Also, did you know that just like during the best scene in Tangled (come on, you know the one), places like Poland and Thailand actually release lanterns into the sky?!? Kind of dangerous and seemingly environmentally unfriendly, but spellbindingly beautiful. I can't stop watching this video! I wish that I had seen something like this in Poland when I visited there, but alas, it wasn't yet Midsummer.


Quilting was a difficult decision as always this time. Originally, I thought of doing an all-over design because this quilt is not meant to be quilted heavily (couch use).  After listening to Barbara Persing's lecture last year, I always consider the use of my quilts before I quilt them. However, those lanterns were begging to be individually quilted (and I knew I would regret it if I didn't do it). So, I compromised: individual quilting for the lanterns, and an all-over pattern of falling leaves and loops in the background. It's supposed to look like the lanterns are rising while the leaves fall. :) I quilted it using purple Aurifil in the background, and gray for the lanterns.

This purple one is my favorite of them all!

I found that jelly roll strips (cut down from 2.5" to 2.25", my normal binding size) acted as the perfect scrappy binding. Now, looking at the pictures, I really see how the lighter, brighter colors frame the dark background. I loved Good Fortune when I bought the jelly roll, and I still do (but not quite as much now that I've worked with it for so long). Does anyone else fall a little bit out of love with fabrics once you've stared at them for too many hours?

The backing is made from a large piece of Good Fortune found at Burkholder's Fabrics earlier this year and more yardage/strips from the line. You can never have enough purple in this house. I even left the selvage in because I cannot get over those fans. See them peeking through? :)

I may be selling this quilt, but I'm still deciding. My mom wants it for her living room and I'm tempted to give it to her just to keep it in the family. :D

You can read more about this quilt here (when I finished the top) and you can see the Lantern-A-Long posts from last summer here.

Linking up a little late to Crazy Mom Quilts and TGIFF! The weather here was not favorable for quilt picture-taking until after our Fourth of July BBQ (and by the way, Happy Independence Day!).

 *This quilt is on my Finish-A-Long List, Quarter 2 list! I'm linking up there as well.*