Florida is a Top

With much consternation about an August 30 order place with Missouri Star Quilt Company for Moda Grunge in the color Ocean, and several other fabric pieces - that order still hasn't arrived! (Edited September 14 to add that the order arrived today... 16 days later. No apology; no "we're sorry" gift. I won't order from Missouri Star again.) - I phoned StitchCraft quilt shop in Boca Raton (where I'd purchased a half yard of fabric) and within four days received more Grunge Ocean - happily from the same bolt I'd first purchased it from! I appreciate StitchCraft's promptness.

The arrival of Grunge from StitchCraft allowed me to complete the piecing of my Florida quilt top. The Keys aren't exactly accurate, but given that they needed to be half-square triangles, just like the body of Florida, this is as close as I could get.

40" X 40"

Because all of the land is 1-1/2" X 1-1/2" (finished) half-square triangles, I thought it was important to the overall flatness of the quilt top to continue piecing into the water section. So, the water immediately adjacent to the land is 1-1/2" squares. Further out are 3" squares, and at the perimeter are 6" squares.

From the back, all that piecing really shows up. I pressed open every seam, thinking that will make quilting a little easier to accomplish.

The quilt sandwich is a layer of cotton Cream Rose with a layer of Quilter's Dream wool on top. I opted for double-batting because I want my quilting to show-up. By the way, the photo below is a truer representation of the color Ocean. The fabric reads more aqua than the blue in the above pictures.

Quilting has begun. With my Bernina walking foot I'm first cross-hatching the land using YLI 40-weight variegated yellow thread. It's one of the many cones of thread I won as a third place prize in a 2012 quilt show.

I'm using light blue 50-weight Aurifil in the bobbin for the totally appropriate backing fabric.

Next is the quilting design for the water... I'm spending more time on that, drawing it out, and quilting a sample since it will likely be a featured part of the quilt.

Two people on Instagram have asked for a pattern, but since I don't have software to create diagrams, I have to decline. I do think it would be fun if there was a pattern for every state though! Linda