For the Love of Lotta

Raise your hand if you love free fabric. How about beautiful free fabric? Yeah, I thought so.
One of the cool things about going to Quilt Market and attending the Schoolhouse presentations is the stuff they give away. Sometimes it's a sneak peek at a new book or a free pattern and sometimes, and best of all, it's free fabric.
That's exacty what Lotta Jansdotter gave away to promote her new line, Echo, for Windham Fabrics. And, I'm here to tell you, the stuff is seriously beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that I couldn't wait to come home and make something with the charm pack of samples I got.
Initially, in adherence with my selfish sewer philosophy, I thought to use the fabric to make a pair of new pillows for my new sofa(more info about that when I do actually make pillows for said sofa).
But, on further contemplation and because a baby shower was quickly approaching and I was sans a handmade gift, I decided to use the fabric as part of a baby quilt for one of my lovely and talented co-workers at Stitch Lab.

 I apologize for the work-in-progress photos. I just didn't have a chance to take a picture of the finished quilt, but I can guarantee you that Lotta's fabrics made the top feel fresh and contemporary and fun.

A few of the sampler blocks were larger than the others because they came from a kit she handed out along with the charm packs. I wanted to use both, so I improvisationally pieced borders around some of the blocks to get them to fit together. I also added four corner blocks to the border muslin which may or may not be visible in the first photo.
The quilt was super-quick to piece and machine quilted from the center out to echo the above shape. The quilting really accentuated the organic nature of both that particular block and Lotta's fabrics in general.
Being a fabric designer myself and having my own line to promote, I feel a little weird gushing about these fabrics, but they are beautiful, fresh, and eminently useable. If I was on a desert island and could take only one collection with me other than my own, Lotta's would be it.