Grannies for Lunch!

Grannies in da house y'all! 

Aren't these all fabulous?! These are from our Granny Square exchange! I have 24 in all, some of which are duplicates, so I'm just showing the different ones. 

I survived my very first block exchange and am no worse for wear--nor, more importantly, are my co-block exchangers!! As you know, I am so not a precision blocker, so when presented with the Granny Square block exchange, as much as I wanted to be a joiner, I didn't want to jump in feet first and then mess it up by losing my mind and not following the pattern or having mine end up a royal nightmare! But I bravely put my toe in the water and then dove right in and there I am (second row, second from the right) and it seems to fit in with the others?!). Phew! It's official! I've done a block! And aren't these other lovelies just amazing?! I just love the vintage yummy fabric everyone used in their blocks:

And there are still more I didn't add, but also have adorable animal prints, like April's cute puppies!! I just love the vintage people and animal prints. They remind me of the books I read when I was little, like Lois Lowry's books and the Boxcar Children!

Pamela hosted us for brunch and for our granny square swap. Thanks for the scrumptious yummies and a lovely day! It was so wonderful to get together with everyone (April, Ella, Kristin, Marion, Pamela, and Sue)! 

Now I just have to get busy with all my lovely squares! I got a little granny-mad when I was making mine, so I have about 10 extra of my pattern, so I was thinking of perhaps using them as an outer ring and then the other ones shown above in an inner ring . . . but I'm still just mulling it over! Suggestions welcome!

On the Lilly Pulitzer quilt update, the top is finished and I have found the wildest Lilly Pulitzer backing:

I know, I know, it's pretty wild! But it totally goes with the color scheme of the front blocks--and that's saying' something! and it has peacocks on it! Just to give you and idea of scale, this bad boy is about 10 inches tall. No joke! 

Thanks to Karen and Marion for their encouragement to go big and bold on the back--something strong enough to match the front, yet still coordinated with the very distinctive Lilly Pulitzer fabric. I picked the backing fabric not only for the color, but also for the peacock pattern. I found it about 10 months ago on Etsy from a vendor in Hong Kong. And here's why peacocks: when I was little, I was terrified of the peacocks in the zoo; whenever they would open up their beautiful fan-like tail-feathers I would start to cry because I would be so startled by the dramatic movement. What can I say? I was a sensitive child! Ever since, whenever my mother has found an appropriate peacock card, it has been sent my way. It seems fitting, therefore, to back her quilt in peacocks!