Let me introduce you to my Great Granny Gretel ;-) That’s the name I gave this quilt because it is composed of Great Granny quilt blocks using Amy Smart’s latest fabric line, Gretel. I know…I’m so clever! I just love the sweet retro inspired prints in this collection as well as the color palette.

My quilt design was inspired by Lori Holt’s Great Granny Squared quilt pattern.

Instead of piecing the quilt together as blocks like Lori’s quilt pattern, I wanted the print fabric of each “great granny square” to be touching (i.e. without the extra white background between them). To accomplish this, I cut up my fat quarter bundle into 2 1/2” squares and laid them out with white 2 1/2” squares and then sewed them together in diagonal rows. Below is a photo of the completed quilt top when I was done. I left the edges as shown while I quilted and then trimmed the quilt into a square before adding the binding.

I had originally planned to do crosshatch quilting, but once I completed the horizontal rows, I kind of loved the simple and fluffy texture it created, so I called it done.

This is for sure one of my new favorite quilts. It is so bright and cheery and I love how scrappy the great granny pattern makes it seem even though the fabric is all from one collection.

And now I’m just going to bombard you with pretty photos because I couldn’t decide which ones to post :) Enjoy!

That butter yellow in the center block of the below photo may be my new favorite color for this summer!

For the back and binding, I chose my favorite print from the collection, the main Gretel print in blue. And look how perfectly my straight lines ended up along the backing fabric. I’m certain I couldn’t have done that if I was actually trying! I just love happy little “accidents”.