great granny squared quilt along!

I've joined another quilt along! This one uses Lori Holt's new "Great Granny Squared" book. I had to do this, right?! This will be a short quilt along, only 5 weeks. And on week one I made a...

Lori's finished quilt measures 40" x 52" but of course I am going to put a twist on it. I am doing it half-sized! My finished top will be 20" x 26". There's a lot of cutting prep for this block! I'm lucky that I had these nifty Alphabitties to keep me organized. (Remember Alpha Bits cereal? Yum!)

Working with all those 3/4" pieces made me a little crazy. This block measures 6" x 8". And I'll admit that there's one flaw that I picked out twice... and then decided that I'd stop stressing.

I have a few little guidelines for this quilt. I'm not calling them rules so that I won't feel guilty if I break them!

First, I was determined to use a colored background. That's something that I don't usually do. But I think that I'm relying on white and white-on-white and wanted to try something new. This pale blue is from Kona.

Next, I am going to avoid darks. That's right. No navy and no black!

And finally, break out the whites! I'm going to incorporate some white prints. I love them, but I feel that they disappear when used on a white background. Or at least that's what I tell myself. 

I'm using mostly Pam Kitty Picnic (again!) and a few pieces of Scrumptious. 

There's time for you to join the group, too! Other Great Granny Squared baskets are being added to the Flickr group here, and you can read more details about the sew along at Lori's blog and at the Jolly Jabber.