Watermelons in August

During the last week of August, my friend, Ibby and I ran away to Iowa for a little mini-retreat with our Iowa friend, Carolyn. For the last year, Ibby had been collecting "watermelon" fabric. Everywhere we went, and everywhere we've shopped, she's said again and again, "Oh! That's perfect for my watermelon quilt!" Last spring, Carolyn and I were joking with her that she had enough watermelon fabric to make us all a watermelon quilt. Do you see where this is going?

Neither Carolyn nor I had ever seen the watermelon quilt pattern, but Ibby agreed to cut it and "kit" it all up for us to sew. Sooooo, when we arrived, we set up our machines and stitched that first night. The next morning we had an outing to Winterset to Fons and Porter's quilt shop, and each of us chose different sashing and border fabrics. That afternoon and evening, we sewed and finished up all the watermelon blocks. Then for about 3 hours in the wee hours of the morning, we just couldn't decide on sashing - first it was green, then it was orange, then it was orange stripes etc. The next morning, our brains finally got straight, and we proceeded on with our own style of finishing it. You can see how different border treatments change the quilt slightly, but overall - they are definitely still watermelon quilts!

I have such good friends, and this winter, when I am snuggled under this quilt, reading or sewing, I will remember our fun little retreat!