MQG Riley Blake Challenge finished quilt

My Riley Blake Challenge quilt is finished.  The design comes from a Nancy Cabot block, Red Peony Buds.  I found the block in Jinny Beyer's book, but a Google search does not show up with any results that match the block from the book.

Besides the Riley Blake fabrics provided and a few squares from a RB charm pack, I added solids from my stash.  The solids weren't labeled so I am unable to provide that information other than that they are probably all Kona.  They might be corn, tangerine, medium gray, aqua, azure, bahama blue, coal and navy.  

I enjoy the problem solving aspect of quilting and using my math skills to figure out what I need. I debated normal piecing to make flying geese and the square in square blocks, but decided to try to use paper piecing for all of it instead. When thinking about how I was going to create the design, I wished for EQ7 or another quilt designing software that would easily create the templates I wanted.  But, since that isn't my reality at the moment, I found a way to make it work using free templates.

For the piecing, I used two paper piecing templates intended for other quilt blocks.  For the diamonds (or kites) I used template B from the Evening Star tutorial by Katie of SwimBikeQuilt.com.  The square in square template came from a Carol Doak book which happened to have a pattern that measured 5.5".

 I drew the lines on template B to make the shape rectangular (9x5.5").  I cut the fabric for the small triangles at 4 inches square as the directions stated for the Evening Star.  For the large diamond, I  cut the fabric at 4x7 inches.  The bottom triangle (or the 45-45-90) was cut according to the Evening Star directions (5").

 For the short white triangles, I cut my fabric as a 5" square and cut those squares in half on the diagonal.  Mostly this was because I had 5" squares already cut and it made it easier to just use those.   Pretty sure that 4" squares on the diagonal would work as well, but the 5" ones were already cut.  For the larger white triangles, I cut a 8.5 x 6.5" rectangle and cut that across on the diagonal.  Attaching those were a bit trickier and required a bit more thought as to how to arrange that fabric.

For the square in square blocks, I cut a 4 inch square for the center square.  I cut 3.75 inch squares on the diagonal for the outer white parts of the square.  I think 3.25" would work as well but I wanted a little wiggle room.

My apologies for my doubts on some of the measurements used for each component.  Crayons and markers were on the table in addition to the paper on which I wrote down the measurements.  My measurement papers were used for lovely pictures drawn by both kids.

For the quilting, I marked 1.25" from the outsides of the squares and diamonds.  In the white parts, I quilted figure eights (I think that is the Angela Walters description).  I need a bit more practice with that to make it look more professional.

The navy blue sections are quilted with the typical wishbone quilting that I like so much.  Originally I was going to put the rows on an all white quilt top but when I assessed how much navy I had left, it was nearly the perfect amount to match the length of the rows.  Practicality won out and that's why the negative space is navy.  I like it much better than the original plan for white.

 The backing is a blue brushed cotton from Cape Ann by Liesl Gibbons for Moda.  The quilt is bound in Navy Sketch by Timeless Treasures.  That was actually the only fabric I had to purchase for this quilt.

The quilt measures approximately 44x64" after washing.