My Center Block {Round Trip Quilts}

Thank goodness for long weekends.  I managed to get so much accomplished!  My husband and I cleaned and organized the house and got rid of a ton of extra stuff (yay for free piles).  I also had time to complete the quilt top for my Orange Peel Quilt Along, which is now over by the way... but at least I'm making progress (more on that later this week), and finish my center block for the Round Trip Quilts round robin quilt bee!  I can't wait to show you!

Fair warning: I'm so excited about this quilt top and there are a lot of pictures to follow.  Here's a peek of the final center!  Keep reading for the whole thing!

We decided to send a notebook with our quilts and when I found this one I knew I'd hit the jackpot.  The aqua color is fantastic and it's got that cute little motto on the front:  Hello Beautiful Day.  I asked that the theme for my quilt be all about New Hampshire and what better way is there to wake up in this beautiful state of ours than with a "hello beautiful day"?  I took breaks through out the piecing to jot down thoughts, ideas, and doodles about what I'd like this quilt to be.  If you want a similar journal, you can find them here.  I already bought the hot pink "Be Awesome Today." and neon yellow "Find Your Happy." journals.  Oops.

First a quick itinerary and my information, in case the notebook gets separated from the quilt.  I've removed my information from the picture for obvious reasons.

Then a brief introduction to what I'd like the quilt to be.  You know those brown and green and tan "Lodge Quilts" that you see in hunting cabins, theme rooms, and lake houses?  I want this quilt to be an updated version of that.  I highly encourage the women working on my quilt to think outside of the box with this one and really be creative!  I also included some quick facts about NH.

Next I added some doodles and drawings of elements I might like to see incorporated into my quilt top.  I hope that the ladies don't feel limited by these suggestions!  This notebook was great for drafting blocks and doodling!  Instead of lines there is a dot grid that makes it easy and simple to draw in.

Next more reasons that I love it here in NH.  Hint: Winter, Snow, and Green Space.

Finally, some quilty type details.  What type of color scheme I'd like (bright and colorful but not ROY G. BIV), the types of fabrics I like, the layout I'm imagining (though I know that the finished product will be a million times better than I can possibly think of!).

And in close, Happy Quilting!  (and some links to my inspiration pages here and here.... speaking of, if you haven't seen the Granite State of Mind parody video- 1. Where have you been? 2. Go watch it now.)

Are you ready to see the finished center?  ME TOO!  Here's my sketch of what I imagined the block looking like.

And here's the block!  I am so happy with how this came out!  I love the scrappy happiness and bright colors and I just can't wait to snuggle up under the finished quilt when I get it back!  Now to get to the post office and get this baby in the mail!

Round Trip Quilts now has a Flickr group and you can follow us on Instagram using #roundtripquilts!  You can also find a summary of all of our posts on my Round Trip Quilts page in the toolbar at the top of the page!

The full list of members is below:

Heather at QA Creations

Leanne at Devoted Quilter

Kim at Ties That Bind Quilting

Liz at Green Cheese Quilting

Mary at See Mary Quilt

Christina at WIPs and Tuts

Jennifer at Never Just Jennifer

Chelsea Huckins at Patch the Giraffe

I'm linking up with this weeks WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.