Working on a Present

I have been working on a quilt for the past week with all the blocks made and ready to be assembled. It's a Christmas present/thank you for listening to me complain about nursing school for the last year and a half present. I'm making this one right now and a second one will be made in January for the other good buddy (these guys are also on my rowing team, but we go out as a trio off the water quite frequently). These are for two of my close friends in Boston. The first one is a pattern I've been itching to try. It reminds me of DNA and I'm making for someone who is a Post Doc in infectious diseases and immunology. He works in a lab and actually discovered a new strain of the disease he's researching. So this pattern just made sense to me for him. Also, his high school and undergrad university have the same colors, so I used those as the basis for the color scheme.

The only blocks not in this picture are the green and gray HSTs. The overall quilt will be 60"x70". the helix pattern is 6 blocks by 12 blocks, with each finished square coming to 5". I used the stack two squares, sew around the edge, then cut diagonally for the HST making, so 4 at once. Then I squared them up to 5.5". Didn't take long at all, and the solid areas on either side will be whole cloth, so no block making other than the helix - and the helix/DNA thing is why I thought of this pattern this buddy.

PS I graduated from Nursing School this past Friday. I am now a BSN and will be taking the boards in January with a big move to DC immediately following become a member of the US Navy Nurse Corps.