Chelsea Rose Pop

 This is definitely another "Gladys Over" (glad it's over) quilt. 

When I originally made this quilt, I wanted something that I could finish quickly, so I chose a pattern that looked like it would work up fairly easily and used fabric from my stash.

The pattern was pretty cool because it gave you three different "sub-block" pieces to create and then 3 different layouts of how to assemble the pieces into a larger block. 

Snap,

Crackle, 

and Pop. I chose the Pop layout because I also liked the secondary design that appeared when the blocks were put together. 
This is the backing fabric. 

I had originally hoped to use it instead of the grey in the quilt top. But I didn't have as much of the grey as I did of the burgundy and wouldn't have had enough for the backing if I used the grey. 
Unfortunately, I did not follow my quilter's instinct to not use these fabrics together without some solid or tonal fabric as well. The large print, especially just does not work with the smaller pieces. And I ended up with a quilt top looking like floral vomit. 

It's so busy that it's hard to even discern the individual blocks, let alone the secondary design. I was really not happy with the results.
When I was considering the quilting, I had originally planned on using a rose pantograph as the fabric is rose themed. However, as I considered the quilt top, I decided to try ruler quilting to attempt to "tame" it and make the design more evident. So, instead of spending hours doing a pantograph, I ended up spending weeks doing ruler work. 

I spent so many hours on this quilt that I could see it when I closed my eyes at night, and I got heartily sick of it. But did it really make a significant enough difference to justify spending all that extra time on the quilting? 

I don't honestly think so. As this side by side collage shows, the finished quilt on the left does not look significantly different from the unquilted top on the right. Blech!

The moral of the story is: Follow your quilting instincts. At least it's finished, and the individual fabrics are pretty. 
Now, on to more fun and visually appealing projects.