Grandpa's Candy Dish: A Quilty Finish

A grandfather is someone with silver in his hair and gold in his heart.
–Unknown

I've had this quilt rattling around in my head since last August. I saw it over at Quilt Times. Sue was using a pattern called Summer Breeze {found in Scrap-Basket Surprises}. She'd done hers in reds and greens and called it Christmas Stars. I loved the design. I decided that I'd use some giveaway winnings, a really fabulous Moda Marbles Jelly Roll and my Go!, to make something like it.

I really wanted this to be a Christmas gift for my Grandpa, but budget and time constraints prohibited that. So, I made it a priority as one of the first things to get done in the New Year. When I pictured what sort of fabric I wanted to use for the pinwheels, homespun came to mind and I thought red would be really spectacular. But when I got to JoAnn's {armed with my trusty 50% off coupons }, I absolutely fell in love with this earthy brown homespun. I picked up a piece of white-on-ivory for the background {also at 50%} and got a terrific steal deal on some Warm and Natural batting. I came in at just under $20 {it was $19.68 for those of you who are wondering, and I know some of you are} total out-of-pocket cost for this quilt.

I used the starter die that comes with the Go! Fabric Cutter to cut the half-square triangles for the pinwheels. It was really fast and fun. I laid the fabrics in pairs, right sides together and when I'd finished, they were all ready stacked and ready to sew . As I worked, I pondered names for this quilt. I couldn't very well call it Summer Breeze or Christmas Stars. I started out with basic descriptors, Grandpa's Pinwheels, Homespun Pinwheels, and the mostly likely candidate, Elemental Pinwheels. Then I asked for Mr. Bug's input. He suggested Earthy Pinwheels or Rusty Pinwheels. Nothing seemed to fit. Completely in love with how the top was coming out, I'd resigned to calling it the less-than-spectacular Elemental Pinwheels. I began to put the borders on and realized that the gorgeous browns reminded me of chocolate and caramel. As I thought about that, I remembered that my Grandpa had a candy dish. And in his candy dish, he nearly always had Werther's Originals. I'd had a Werther's from his candy dish the last time I visited him.

I remembered other candies in my Grandpa's candy dish; gummy bears {the good ones from Germany}, Skittles {also known as Andy Candy}, M&M's, mini candy bars. You see, Grandpa has a sweet spot for the grandkids. So if he knew you were coming, there was always something yummy in his candy dish. The pinwheels in the quilt reminded me of those wrapped Werther's candies and so I decided that Grandpa's Candy Dish would be the name for this quilt.

I just did a simple stipple, at a medium size, for the quilting {liking free motion more and more all the time } and threw it in the wash so it would be soft and crinkly. I'll be dropping this in the mail tomorrow. I can't wait until my Grandpa gets it so he'll know that I have a sweet spot for him too.

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