Linky Love pattern (+giveaway)

I got it all done!  And published!  And everything! :-D

I'm really proud of this pattern, and happy with how it turned out.  It is fun to piece together, because of how the pieces link together, and a great design for showing off a favorite color scheme.

When I have a new quilt design in mind, I usually give it a nickname, so I have a place to organize all the diagrams and what-not as I'm working on it.  This one, I nick-named "Linky Love."  I wasn't sure if that name would stick or not, and I auditioned a few others, but went back to this.  Cheesy?  Absolutely.  But catchy too. :)

Included with the pattern are all the instructions to make this quilt in three different sizes.

There's the 56" square "throw" size, which is what I've made here:

The 72" square "Cover" size... which has a layout like this:

(see what I mean about a favorite color combo?  I just liked this one)
This size also perfectly uses a Moda Jelly Roll.

And a Queen size that measures 88" x 96" and looks something like this:

(If I was going to make this quilt for our bed, I'd need to go with a background color like this).

You'll also get a nifty coloring page (yea!) to help you plan your color scheme and lay-out.  (I'm not going to lie -- I really enjoyed getting out my colored pencils and coloring my page in when I was planning this quilt).  The quilt is planned with five color groups in mind, but I also included diagrams for using four or seven colorways.

Kelly is currently working on the cover version (in Birds & Bees fabric), and Lindsey already has a throw size quilt top almost completed using the Simply Color ombre jelly roll strips (yes, the ombre does create a really cool effect).

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The inspiration for this quilt was two-fold.  

Please meet my cosmetics pouch that doubles as a sewing notions holder.
I have stared at this thing sitting in my sewing area for a couple years, and always thought it would make a great quilt design.  But the piecing baffled me.  

Then... Jay (my hubs) asked me one night if I would do him a favor and make a quilt for his friend's wife who was recently diagnosed with cancer, and ended up in the ICU with a really scary infection (and whole mess of complications).  He has known the guy for a while, in the online, MMORPG universe known as EVE.  They're in a "corp" together.  They have meetings, with chat rooms and all sorts of craziness -- so they've gotten to know each other pretty well (though they still refer to one another as Kubert and Raven for the most part, rather than their real-life, less entertaining names).

Hearing about what Raven's wife was going through really upset Jay.  And he wanted to do something.  

He thought sending ISK (the fake online currency of the EVE world) wouldn't be as appreciated as a quilt.

I told Jay to ask Raven what his wife liked.  She apparently is a big University of Michigan fan.  So borrowing their colors of blue and gold, I pulled some fabrics, got out my graph paper, figured out how to make these links connect, and Linky Love was made.  

Jay told me that Raven's wife (whose name is Heidi) cried when she saw the picture of her quilt (which is in the mail).  That made me cry.  So I stuck with the name "Linky Love." (and yes, I put Jay's EVE name on the label).

I already showed you, but here's the back I made to go with the front:

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So thank you for listening to my ramblings. 

I can't wait to show you more versions of this quilt, as well as see yours!

And I hope you like this pattern as much as I do. 

It will always remind me personally that sometimes those online friends are just as linked as the ones who live closer...

♥

Giveaway of the pattern!
To enter -- leave a comment telling me something you love about your online friends -- or a color scheme/fabric line you'd like to use to make this... or something. :)
If you buy it, and then win -- I'll refund your money, or send you another pattern gratis.

P.S. you have until the 10th to link up for our Just Three goals! :)