Frog and Toad Go Swimming - The Comeback Quilt

58 x 72

Some quilts begin with a pattern. Others begin with a color palette. And that's how this one started. I knew I wanted to work with shades of blue and green so I started by sewing each block from two alternating colors. Once all the blocks were finished, I arranged them on my design wall, separating each block in a row with five black and white pieces, shifting the next row over by a half block. But...oh, was it ugly.

The colors looked choppy, and instead of flowing across the quilt, they felt random and disconnected. I wish I had saved a picture of that so you could see just how far this quilt has come. Sometimes a quilt just doesn't come together the way you imagine it will.

So I did what every quilter dreads - I grabbed my seam ripper. I carefully took apart every single block so I could mix up the color combinations hoping that would work. Then it was back to the design wall where I cam up with this idea instead.

The colors began to flow naturally from one block to the next, creating the movement I had hoped for from the very beginning. The black and white columns, which had felt harsh before, now framed each section beautifully and gave the quilt a modern, graphic look.

That gave me the idea to quilt it with flowing waves horizontally across the quilt top. I searched for some ideas, but didn't really see anything I liked. So I just tried to quilt some wavy lines that didn't touch each other but came together in some places like ripples. 3 lines per row seemed right. After a few passes, I decided it was just the right fit for the quilt.

I was close to tossing this at the beginning, and I'm so glad I kept going. I think it turned out to be a nice looking quilt. I keep thinking it should be called  "Frog and Toad Go Swimming." So I think I will.