My first quilt!

I recently moved back to my hometown after a short period in Brooklyn. One of the things I lacked in New York was space, and now that I'm back in Kentucky, I have plenty of space for my sewing table and the giant pile of fabric I keep stashed away for unforeseen projects. To celebrate all of my new space, and my return home, I am making a quilt. My first quilt!

For the pattern, I wanted something classic and clean, but with a little personality; I looked for something more interesting than a paintbox quilt, and not too traditional--I don't want to feel like a squadron of calico prints is disapprovingly looking over my shoulder, wondering why I am sullying their precious eight point star. And I also wanted to be able to make the quilt with scraps of fabric, since quilting can get expensive. So, after hanging ten on the world wide web, I came across the fabulous blog Oh, Fransson! The writer creates beautiful quilts and also post tutorials on her website, including one for her "Map of the States" block. Behold:

These pictures aren't the best, but you might be able to tell that each column is slightly different from the rest, with varying block sizes and widths throughout. I have to make 48 blocks total, for a modestly sized quilt (approx 70"x90"). My goal is to make ten blocks per week, so in four weeks I will be ready to do the sashing and binding. The fun thing about making a scrappy quilt with color-themed blocks is that you get to use a lot of different fabrics. Here is some I bought today, on sale at my local corporate fabric store. Yeah.