Bella Vita

When I was a little girl, my parents and I lived in a very old farm house in the country. I remember one day, running through the yard with one of those plastic pinwheels that you get at the dollar store. It sticks so firmly in my mind because of the bright colors and the sun reflecting off of the blades as it spun wildly in the breeze.

That is one of my favorite memories. Such a simple, beautiful time. 

That's what this quilt reminds me of  - summers in the Midwest, drinking slushies in the car with the windows down, my ice cream cone melting in my hand. 

"Bella Vita"

The literal translation is 'Beautiful Life'. I feel it's very fitting. 

The blades of the pinwheels, borders, binding and backing are all from Make Life by Sweetwater for Moda. The white is Bella Solid. 

I used four charm squares for each block - two white and two printed. 

The original pattern called for the blades to be the same color, but I feel that some rules are just meant to be broken :). This is one of those times. 

I ventured into unknown territory with the quilting of this quilt. For the outer border, I did large loops and swirls. The inner border was small loops and swirls.

And the blocks are quilted in almost a swirly pattern. I was inspired, again, with the idea of the pinwheels spinning, and that's the most literal translation I could do :). I feel as though it turned out nicely.

The backing is so cute :). It's the white with the blue words.

As I finished the quilting, I wanted to keep this one more and more. So here it sits, on my quilt rack. I'm so glad I'm keeping it!

This quilt was very easy to put together and the blocks were put together surprisingly quickly! 

We're having really awful weather here in NW Ohio, so that's the reason for the really...really ugly pictures :). I promise I'll take much prettier pictures once the weather turns around!

Happy Quilting!