Red Riding Hood Quilt - a finished quilt

A fairy tale:  Once upon a time a young quilter saw some beautiful fabric on the magical kingdom of Pinterest and went on a mission to collect as much of it as she could in order to create treasures in her own quilting kingdom.  That's the shortened version of how this project came to be.

The fabric in this quilt is from Tasha Noel's Little Red Riding Hood range and I love everything about it.  Unfortunately my local patchwork shop only stocked two of the fabrics (the red I've used in the strips and the grey floral I've used on the back).  I then spent the next couple of months sourcing as much of it as I could from different online shops.  It did become a bit of a mission for me (and possibly also an obsession) to get hold of as much as I could.

This week's finished project could have been finished ages ago but I have been putting off finishing the binding for ages because I didn't want to stop working with this set of most beautiful of fabrics.  Some of this fabric I've now had stashed away for over a year but this is now my second quilt using these fabrics and I've been dragging out how long I can work with them.

Many of my quilts are different blocks put together in different combinations.  What I liked here was starting with what I call "fox in a box" (I do know it's really, "box in a box") and then putting these in the friendship stars.  I think this gives the quilt a little more interest; images from the Red Riding Hood story are framed nicely this way and the pretty flower and toadstool prints also have a starring role.

I added the red strips and the diagonal strips to make the quilt fit a child's bed and not just a cot.  I especially like how they now look.  This started out as a way of using up scraps, as I didn't want to waste any of my precious fabric, but they have ended up being a great feature and could surely be the inspiration for another quilt in the future.

There are two different threads here for the quilting.  The red strips have been quilted using a perfectly matched red but then I have not been able to resist a variegated thread for the rest.  It's by YLI and is Nana's Rose Garden.  I think the light to dark pink is perfect for making this even more girly.

I'm really pleased with this quilt and have decided to keep it with me.  I love gifting my quilts but sometimes I have to do a little hoarding.  One day I would love to tuck a little girl in to bed and share the story of Red Riding Hood with her.  That way there really would be a happily ever after.