Black and White Quilt - Q4 Finish

This quilt was made from a free pattern on Craftsy -- "Illusions" by Jennifer Jones.  It was made from 2 Jelly Rolls -- one black and one Modern Background Paper by Zen Chic.  I really love this line of fabric (along with much of the world, I really like text prints.  The newspaper, the cursive printing, the physics drawings.  I love them all.)

A few months ago I found out my best friend is moving to Texas.  I knew I'd better send her with a quilt -- one she can curl up with in the 100 degree weather there in Houston.  haha.  It may just be looked at, not curled up in.  She hates the heat as much as I do.  Anyway, my friend is very classy and I thought this 2 color quilt would look nice in her clean, modern home.  

I struggled to know what backing to put on it.  I thought I'd easily find a great print for the back, but nothing was looking good to me.  So I went with solids - a pretty coral and some gray.  

Speaking of gray -- that is my friend's last name, Gray.  And I'm feeling quite gray about her going...she is a long time friend and even though several weeks go between us seeing each other, just knowing she is out of reach makes me sad.  Thank goodness for unlimited long distance.  Remember the days when making a long distance call was a big deal -- keeping it short and calling after 10:00 PM when the rates were lower?  No longer.  Now we spend a pretty penny for our cell phone service -- but we do get unlimited long distance.  :)

Something I learned:

1.  Although the construction of this quilt looked quite simple, sewing the blocks together gave me trouble.  The original quilt did not have sashing between the blocks.  But when I tried to sew the blocks together the corners kept getting sucked into the machine, even when sewing a little scrap just before.  It was so aggravating.  I decided to try a skinny sashing so that I could just lay the blocks on a long sashing strip, sew them, and then cut the blocks apart.  I think it looks okay and I didn't give up out of frustration. 

I also finished another quilt for a charity drive.  They specifically said they needed boys quilts.  A while back I started this one along with Crazy Mom Quilts' Scrap Basket Quilt Along.  I never finished.....until now!  It is all made from scraps.  I do love a blue/green color combo for boys.

I am linking up to Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story.
I am also linking up to NTT at My Quilt Infatuation.