Beware the Dark Side {a finished quilt!}

Late last year I finished this quilt for my Star Wars loving brother.  I had to keep it a secret for a month or so as I worked on it because I was giving it to him for Christmas.  It was SO HARD not to share while I was putting this one together!!

I got the idea when I saw my quilty friend Sara's pixelated version on Instagram sometime last year.  I started with her layout and instructions (thank you Sara!!) and played around a bit while adding in some half square triangles and this is the result.

I was stumped a bit about how to quilt the Storm Trooper.  I knew I couldn't do an allover pattern because white thread on the black wouldn't look so great.  I ultimately decided to do straight lines, changing the direction in each color and using three different colors of Aurifil thread.  It worked out even better than I imaged :)

But my goodness...it seemed to take FOREVER to quilt all of those lines just 1/2" apart!

And don't you just love this barn as a backdrop for quilt photos?  I took all of my new pattern quilts out for a photo shoot and this one went along for the ride.  It was a lot of fun and thankfully my Mom came along to help carry (and share her awesome camera!).

I also submitted this quilt for QuiltCon 2016.  The jury LOVED it, however required that I seek permission from LucasFilm/Disney to enter it in the show.  I thought it wouldn't be a problem because I wasn't entering to win any prize money, just for display only.  However LucasFilm/Disney disagreed and wouldn't allow me to hang it in the show :(  To say I was disappointed is an understatement, but I quickly got over it when my brother opened up his gift on Christmas Eve and was thrilled.

After all, he's the reason I made it...to love, snuggle and treasure.  Not for anyone else :)

Amanda