I Just Couldn't Leave Well Enough Alone...

Two things led to this quilt, the project I had completed for friends Holly and Denis (A House Warming Quilt) and my most recent quilt repair project post (What's Old is New Again Part 1 / Part 2).  The reason that these lead me to this project as they were both Ohio Star block quilts.  I had confessed my fear and hatred of the Ohio Star block within the first post and then there I was, faced with a quilt containing the same block.  Although in the repair project I was not actually re-creating the Ohio Square it was a reminder that not only did I find the piecing of an Ohio Star block tedious, but I was really bad at it.  The portion of the block that I didn't care for was the flying geese.. All those geese.. they are boring and hardly ever came out correct and even due to the need to sew them on the bias which is the way that they are traditionally assembled.  I just flat out stunk at making them and that made me cranky about the whole block as there are 4 flying geese in every Ohio Star block.

Today I can honestly say, that was then and this is now.   In between those two projects I found, on another quilter's blog, the best shortcut process for creating flying geese that I've ever seen on a site that I frequently visit called 'Connecting Threads'.  To follow the process of theirs that I have used to learn how to create flying geese easily and accurately check out this link.

 That tutorial has made a HUGE difference.  Within the Ohio Square block the accuracy overall I believe is largely determined by how well you can create the flying geese and with this procedure I was able to make a much more accurate and professional looking quilt block.  In this photo an example of one of my finished Ohio Square blocks and a stack of very accurate flying geese that I had put together using this method.  It was, in fact, such a quick method that I had all the flying geese for this project pieced together in one evening of sewing, less than 4 hours.

I've also used this project as a way to practice my mitered boarders.  On a lot of projects I simply use interrupted boarders which I find to look fine but leave a bit to be desired when you're looking for a clean, professional looking result.  Mitered boarders simply add a detail to a quilt that looks like you've taken a bit of extra care in its preparation.

This photo also shows a bit of the quilting on this item as well.  The style of quilting is rather hap-hazard .. just meandering stitching around the whole project in a color thread that coordinates with the green fabrics and shows as a  bit of relief on the lighter color.  Bobbin color coordinated with the back of the quilt, and with the back being a paisley print that matched the inside boarder, a meander stitch faded in nicely.

The finished project...

What's Old is New Again... Part 2

Well, after a long slow project of putting this quilt back together the project is complete.  I'm extremely happy with the repair of the torn seams and with the fact that I was able to preserve all the pieces of this project, quilt top, back and binding.

(If you missed it, check out Part 1of this post... )

As I noted in my previous post, there were a number of things about this quilt that I had repaired.  However, one thing I wanted to make certain to try to retain is the charm and home made feeling of this quilt.  One thing that I sometimes like to remind people of is that "home-made" doesn't always mean a flawless result, but it does have it's own charm and appeal.  Those of us with children know this to be especially true.  When we are handed a picture or card made by our children and stand there looking at it, pausing because we can't really tell what they've drawn on the paper... but we love it just the same.  To then have them excitedly explain.. "here's you..and here's me.. and we're holding hands.. "  it's charming and much more valuable to us than any professional painting or piece of art work.  We don't have to dig very deep to know why those types of gifts touch us.. it's their sentiment pulled together by effort and emotion that goes into it that we find appealing.  A tangible example of someone's feelings for us scribbled down on the paper or sewn into a quilt.  That's what I had been handed with this project, someone's gift of the creative expression of their feelings for this couple, this family sewn together with fabric and thread.  I took preserving that expression very seriously with this repair.

Here are only a few photos of the finished repair project.  I, unfortunately, forgot to get a larger photo of the entire quilt put together, but from these you can see specific parts of the quilt in detail; the quilting that didn't exist before (as it was a tied quilt), the binding that I luckily was able to preserve, the loft (in the folded up view) and lastly the ties.  I had decided that although this is a quilted project and technically does not need to be tied, I liked the ribbons.. it added charm.. so the Ohio Square pieced blocks got re-tied as a last step to call the project completed.
 

 Now that this repair is complete.. you know I wouldn't be able to leave well enough alone...

Spiderman was framed!

At the risk of sounding a bit boastful... (and like a cliche` 1960's cigarette add) "I've come along way baby!"  About 9 years ago when I thought I'd give quilting a try I had a sewing machine that only had 2 stitches; 'forward' and 'back-stitch'.  I bought it at Wal*Mart for $80.  I had a small bag of cheap cotton fabric and the only place I had to sew was the kitchen table which was a 32 inch round table in a cramped little kitchen.  To cut fabric for piecing I had to move the machine over to a chair, cut, then move it back to piece.  At the time, that worked out just fine for me.  Then a few quilt projects later amidst the comedy of basting quilts by hand on the living room floor (at times sewing them to the carpet by mistake) and wrapping them all around me to run them through my home machine to quilt them together, I had to find a new way.  I've gone through about 4 machines, broke a few with inexperience and burnt out a few others, and took over the new (dining room) addition on my house to be able to spread out a bit.  From there I started to get bored with quilting down the seams and began to free motion quilt (a la meander stitch) using my home sewing machine.  Worked fine for a few projects, but by that time I had my eye on something bigger and began to research long arm quilting machines and frames.  After having tried basting quilts by sewing them, pinning them and spraying them I was ready to try anything to never have to baste a quilt together again.  So my search began...

I found the research into long arm quilting to be a daunting task as there are so many choices and it's a bit like choosing between two luxury cars.  They'll all get you down the road and are both exceptional compared to your old clunker and you end up making your decision based on creature comforts and price.  This search was somewhat like that.  Every frame and long arm I researched had exceptional reviews by loyal quilters and it was quickly obvious that almost anything I chose would do the trick. 

In addition to price, for me the choice of which frame to purchase came down also to size.  A quilt frame takes up quite a bit of floor space. Unless you have a house with enough space to keep a 12 foot by 6 foot piece of unmovable quilt frame set up, chances are you don't have enough space to operate the machine as a King sized quilt frame. I've not had much call for king sized projects, however, I can't rule them out either.  So, I wanted the ability to have a frame that could potentially hold a quilt that is up to 120 inches wide but could also be set up in a configuration that can save space when working on baby quilts and twin sized projects.  There are two basic choices, aluminum or wood frames.  The aluminum frames mostly come with a fixed length of poles and can be set up in specific widths.   And example is the Baby Lock 'Pearle' frame (which given unlimited space and money would be my first choice) can only be setup in specific lengths, king sized, or twin sized.   So for me, having to have the frame set up for a King sized project to complete a queen sized quilt is a waste of space that I don't have.  Also, did I mention that you'd need to have unlimited space and MONEY?  Yes, these large metal frames without a machine on them can coast upwards of $10,000.  The Baby Lock frame came in at $8500.00 without a machine attached.  For me, I went with a wooden frame for under $1000.00.  It's entry level, I know, but there's more reason than price that I decided to go this way.  The frame itself technically does all the same things the more expensive metal frames do and it does something that they don't do... it scales!  Since the frame I purchased didn't come with poles to hold it together or to hold the quilt I can decide how long to make the poles depending on which size quilt I am working on.  I chose to set my frame up at 8 feet 6 inches, which is just barely large enough for a queen sized project.  However, if I need to change the size of the poles in the event that I complete my sewing studio in the basement sooner than expected and have more space all I need to do is go to Home Depot and purchase new poles which cost me under $8.00 each per 10 foot length.

Now, for the machine, I'd love to have a new modern long arm machine driven by a computerized system that quilts intricate patterns into your work while you stand there and take all the credit.  However, that type of system just isn't in the budget.  So I began to look for a second hand long arm and you would be surprised at just how few of them there are out there.  Apparently, people who make the investment into a long arm quilting machine tend to keep them or trade them in for the next generation machine.  The few I had found on eBay or other sites for sale were too expensive or in pieces.  Then I came across a deal from Hinterberg for one of their wooden quilt frames and a refurbished 17 inch Viking Voyager long arm machine.  The whole package with stitch length regulator; an addition that maintains the same stitch length regardless of the speed that you move the machine (a necessity for a beginner) for just under $4,000.00.  SOLD!!

I found that to purchase these high-end quilt systems, aluminum frame with a new computerized long arm machine could potentially set you back between $18,000.00 to $25,000.00.  Now, lets say you were to do this for a business, and lets also say that a queen size quilt top if you were to send it out to a quilter to complete for you would cost you an average of $250.00.. I can see  that this is an investment that would pay for itself very quickly even if you only completed one or two quilts a week.  Since this is my first foray into quilting on a frame, we'll stick to less lofty goals for now.

So where was I.. oh yeah.. Spider-man!  I had begun this project a long time ago for Jason as he had decided he wanted to change his room decor to super heroes.  I put it aside for a while because he keeps going from super heroes, to Hot Wheels, to muscle cars, to fire and skulls (don't ask!) and back to super heroes.  When I use licensed fabric (fabric that has characters that are trade marked, owned and released specifically for the fabric) I like to look for fabric panels.  This panel I found from one of my favorite online wholesale fabric distributors.  They're usually specific sizes, this one is just about the width of a twin sized bed, sometimes you can find them the size of standard pillow, you get the idea.  Pairing this panel up with a few other themed fabrics allowed me to build a very quick twin sized quilt top.

Piecing was extremely fast and easy, great project to use as a practice on the quilt frame.

The process of quilting on my new frame.. first the backing fabric is loaded.

Then quilt batting over that.. I'm also using this project for some research.  As part of the repair project that I'm working on our friends that owns the quilt requested some extra fluffy / high loft batting.  Since I typically use traditional cotton batting which is very thin I wanted to test out this super loft cotton on a project before I used it on hers.

You may not be able to see from this photo, but this batting is much loftier than what I use and is noted to be for use in quilted or tied quilts as well as what you'd find in a sleeping bag. I tried to show the height here...

 Last bit of setup is the quilt top itself.  In this photo I've put the batting and quilt top on the same pole, however, I will say that I've already realized the benefit of purchasing a quilt frame with a 4th pole.  That way you could purchase quilt batting in giant rolls and not have to place it on the same pole with the quilt top, which can be a bit bulky, and it also keeps it off the floor.  In this house anything that hits the floor that is soft and fluffy becomes a dog bed... it's their domain and I can't say that I blame them.  So here is the quilt top on the frame and ready to quilt...

Not extremely fancy quilting here, just meandering.. but getting used to the new machine and how it moves on the carriage and frame.  Using larger than usual motions in this project to allow the fluffiness of this high loft batting to show.

The finished quilt..

Not sure you can see the loft here.. fluffy and soft!

Although Jason was aware that this project was on the frame for him I surprised him with it when it was done by making his bed while he was in the shower.. he was very excited to see it.

Hannah's Birthday Rag Quilt

This project started with some polar fleece fabric that I had purchased about a year ago because it was on sale.  I had gone to the fabric store trying to think of a project that was different so I started to stroll outside of the quilting cotton section and ended up at the back corner with the giant bolts of fleece.  Joann fabrics often has good sales and this was a 50% off sale.  At the time there were a few nieces of mine expecting babies so I bought a few girly colors and set them aside.  The babies ended up being boys so into the fabric stash the fleece went.  Then a few weeks back we were shopping for a birthday gift for my son's friend Hannah's 7th birthday and the light bulb went on over my head and I remembered the fleece was still in my bin.  I had always wanted to try a quick rag quilt and thought these two colors would compliment each other nicely.

A rag quilt is a good project for beginners or if you are short on time as they come together very quickly and require no basting or quilting.  Most fleece bolts come in 60 inch widths so a little yardage goes a long way.  This project was for a full sized bed and unlike a traditional quilt that you want to have hang over the sides of the bed enough to cover the sides of the mattress this type of quilt is fun to make as a throw blanket or a bed topper.  So first step was to decide on sizes for my squares and cut them out from each of the two fabrics.  Since the fabric is so wide and would be difficult to cut if folded two times due to the 4 layers of a very thick fleece I had to be creative when cutting.

This method works well for me.  I lay wider fabrics on one of my larger cutting mats and establish a straight side.

Then using my 12 x 12 cutting square as a guide I place my 24 inch ruler against that for my straight cut line for my cutting wheel.  The trick here is to not allow the longer ruler to leave the fabric until the cut is across the entire width of the piece.  To do that I remove the 12 x 12 while making my cut.  I then replace the 12 X 12 and slide the long ruler along that until it extends to the other side of the fabric, I then finish the cut.

 The cutting here is very quick, strips of fleece, then into squares.  Another thing to know is that there is single sided and double sided fleece.  When you create a rag quilt from a fabric like cotton or even flannel you would create your squares with a front and a back fabric and sometimes, depending on the thickness of the flannel you may even choose to line it with more flannel or batting like a traditional 'quilt sandwich'.  However, with fleece you already have such a thick warm fabric that there really is no need to do that.

If you have a double sided fleece then it is as soft and fuzzy on one side as the other.  However, you also want to be aware that there is a slight difference between the front and back of the fabric.  It's difficult to see if you don't look closely, but if you make a mistake and don't keep the front fabrics to the front of your work it will stick out in the finished product.  Here's an example of the fabric that I have with a printed design, I've folded over the fabric so you can see the back.  It's just slightly less plush, I was careful to keep my cut squares oriented the same way to avoid making this mistake.

The noticeable difference in making a rag quilt vs any other traditionally pieced quilts is the seam in this type of project is exposed.  I chose a seam allowance of 1 inch here and when assembled the seams can get a bit crowded.  If you choose to make your rag quilt from cotton or flannel that has a liner or batting you would potentially have three layers of fabric as your seam which can get a bit bulky.  This bulk is fine and will help to give the quilt the special look that makes it a rag quilt. 

Although the style of this quilt is a bit forgiving it is important to be precise in your seam allowances and square intersections as variations will show on the back of the project.  Once you've got all your squares together the next step is to cut the seams.  I use a spring loaded scissor for this part of the project so that my hand wouldn't hurt from all the cutting.  This is my sewing machine scissor that sits next to me all the time and I love it.. it really gives my hand a break as I tend to have numbness and pain in my fingers and hands.  The cuts should be in approx 1/2 inch intervals along all seams.  Keep to approx 1/8 inch away from any stitched seam to avoid creating a hole in your finished work.  As you can see near the edge I cut away about an inch and a half to create the fringe around the edge when the cutting in the middle is complete.

In a project of this size there is a lot of cutting that needs to be done.  I tried to stay roughly the same size although since you are eventually going to toss this into the laundry so that the seams can get fluffy and frayed looking it isn't going to make much of a difference if they aren't all exactly 1/2 inch.  Once completely cut the last step before tossing it into the washing machine is to secure the outside edge with one stitch all around the project and then to cut the same fringe style cuts around the entire project.

Edge 'fringe'

The finished project.  Hopefully it fits well as a bed quilt or as a fun throw blanket.  Seems like soft fabric a 7 year old girl might enjoy.

What's Old is New Again... Part 1

I suppose for most of us quilters [or I assume for any crafter] it is very rewarding when we create something that others enjoy, that people find comforting or appealing.  For me, I love seeing photos after I present a quilt to someone that shows the person actually using the quilt on their sofa, or on their bed, or wrapping their baby up in it, it's satisfying to me.  It feels like the person using the quilt is the true last step in creating it.  For me I hope that the time, care and love that I put into planning and preparing a quilt project for a person comes through in the final result.

I've currently got a project on my table that is very different than any of the others I've worked on because I didn't actually piece this one together.  This project comes to me as a repair.  One of our Salem Christian School friends has within their family a quilt that was given to them years ago as a gift.  From what I understand it was a wedding gift and that tells me that it lasted through years of growing a family.  It holds a considerable amount of sentimental value and for that reason they'd like it preserved.  I am honored that they'd entrust me with this project and even more excited to be able to give it back to them when it is complete knowing that it will last and be able to be enjoyed for them for a long time.  I'm happy to preserve this project and hopefully with it the care and loving detail that the person who put it together had in mind for this family.

Quilts, to me, are so comforting.  They get worn and torn like a favorite pair of blue jeans.  While I'm working on it I can just imagine this family growing up wrapped up in this quilt.  Wrapped up in the affection that someone had intended to sew right into it.  That's just the feeling I get with this quilt.  If this quilt could talk it would most likely tell of movie nights on the sofa, afternoon naps, babies being born, kids growing up and memories this family has, all wrapped up into this one quilt.

I know what you're thinking... 'sounds a bit sappy and dramatic', yeah I know.  However, if I didn't feel strongly about it, why would I bother to do it?  Needless to say... I'm taking my time and care in this repair project.  I figure I'd dedicate two blog pages to this project.. this one chronicling the repairs and the next, the finished result.  The funny thing is that my sister, a professional fabricator of custom window treatments, gets repair requests all the time.  When I told her that I was working on this project her reaction wasn't as positive and up-beat as mine.  She warning me that you never know what you'll find when you open up a project that you didn't create... I took that as a challenge.  Somewhat of a quilt layer treasure hunt and pressed on.

The subject... a small Ohio Star quilt.  I’m not sure if you can tell by these photos but it's a tied quilt.  With many tied projects, that in itself starts the problematic points of this quilt.  I'm simply not a big fan of tied quilts, there's a lot riding on those little tied spots. 

 

The quilt is bound with a separate binding strip which will make finishing a bit easier for me as I don't need to rely on the backing being the exact size and shape once all is back together... there's a tiny bit of fudge factor with a quilt that is bound in this fashion.  In this method the binding strip is attached to both sides evenly as opposed to the backing fabric needing to extend past the size of the front fabric and fold over the edges.  I've taken care to preserve the binding for re-assembling this project after it is quilted.  Most likely it will be too long when that occurs because I do intend to finish this with a combination of quilting and tying and machine quilting shortens a quilt a tiny bit.  The retying is mostly so the project maintains more of its original look and handmade charm.

As you can see from this photo, a bit of a closer shot of the center of the Ohio Star block, this is where the quilt was tied.  Some of the ties extend to the back of the project, others did not adding to the structural issues that the quilt had with the batting sagging in the middle of the three quilt layers.  Once I opened the layers up I could clearly see why the crafter had troubles tying through in all spots.

A major issue that this quilt had can be seen in this photo, the ties on this project are spaced 14 inches or more apart.  Before taking the project apart I had assumed a high-loft poly batting was waiting for me inside, I guessed that from the 'fluffiness' of the overall quilt.    High-loft batting is usually very loosely woven together and requires a 4" to 6" spacing between quilting or ties.  A combination of the spacing being too far apart and what as used for batting was what caused all the sagging over the years.  I was also completely wrong in my estimate of what type of batting that was inside, in fact, there was no batting to speak of.  The crafter had used a woven cotton blanket inside this quilt that didn’t stand a chance with ties so far apart.  That discovery also answered my question as to why this quilt, for such a small size was so heavy.  The family likes the fluffy loft of this quilt, so I have chosen a very high loft batting when re-assembling that is also the type used when making sleeping bags.  Hopefully that will give them the fluffy and warm feeling that they remember, without the weight and bulk of the old material.

Now for the repairs.  Once I had pulled the quilt apart I set aside the backing and binding and could really get into repairing any problem spots.  There was one obvious tear when I first looked at it and I was able to discover 3 others throughout the project by inspecting each seam for a total of 4 spots that needed repair.  Two of the tears were large and two were just the beginnings of seams that were starting to fray.  These tears sometimes happen when a 1/4 seam allowance is not observed throughout or in long seams that may pull from the inside.  The two worse tears I was able fix with the least obvious looking repair method while the other two I had no other option but to over-stitch them.  The over-stitched repairs are visible, however I think I chose a thread that matches well and they are in a location where the stitches can blend in.



Before Repair



In the torn spots that I could repair from the back of the seams I was able to re-sew a new seam by borrowing just enough seam allowance from an adjoining pieced shape.  With this spot, the largest tear, I was lucky that I was able to pull in enough of the seam from the 'flying geese' [the three piece triangle shape] without making the overall line of the darker color square look distorted.  It's not ironed yet in this photo because it's still lying over my work area, but once that's ironed flat it will blend right in.





After Repair

With this smaller spot I wasn't as lucky as the larger as there really wasn't much fabric to borrow in order to re-sew this seam.  As a result I had to be a bit creative and the overall shape of the flying geese is lost a bit but the block, I feel, is busy enough that it won't be noticed.



Before Repair

 

After Repair



 Here you get a bit of a different view of the repair.  The shape itself is a bit distorted, but it was necessary to gain enough seam to repair the tear. 

The next two spots are small so I've pointed them out by inserting my wooden pointer.  They were both approximately a half inch each.  Probably not a big deal if I were to leave them that way.  However over time the entire triangle would be damaged as the tears are on either side of the same shape and when that happens the only way to repair it would be replace the whole triangle by appliquéing a new fabric piece over it.  I much rather repair these small holes now and save the future repair of finding suitable fabric to match and patch the whole shape.

For this repair I over-stitched using a zig zag stitch in a thread color that should blend in fairly well.  It looks a bit obvious up close, however when I back the camera up even a foot away from the block you can already see how it will blend in.  On my own quilts that need repair, this is usually how I repair them.  Mostly because I don't take them apart and don't have the option of fixing a seam from inside or back of the quilt top.  The quilt that I created for my son's bed tends to get a lot of tears in it and has a lot of these  'Frankenstein-esc' repair spots on it.  I simply tell him that I'm sewing up the holes so the love doesn't spill out.  It's not the prettiest repair, but it gets the job done.

Last thing I’ve done which isn’t really a ‘repair’ per se` is to ‘clean up’ the back of the quilt top a bit.  All those years of washing and sagging quilt layers had made quite a mess of the pieced seams.  I’ve removed any loose threads and neatened up a few seams that were a bit ragged.

Next step for this quilt is to get it put back together.  This one will be machine quilted in a meandering style using large circular shapes with the long arm machine on the quilt frame.  Once quilted, I’ll go back and retie the centers of the Ohio Star blocks and then add back the type of ribbon that had been used when the quilt was first assembled.  Lastly the binding will go back on and the project will be complete.. again.  Stay tuned...



A House Warming Quilt

Well, this quilt design changed a few times before I settled on the final plan.  I had found a king sized quilt in a magazine that I liked that was made up of different varieties of Ohio star blocks.  The king size inspired a 40 x 40 inch square wall quilt project and was also why my last post was a 'Block of  the Week' featuring the Ohio Star for some practice.  The colors and sizes of the blocks in the magazine were fairly hap hazard as it was indicated in the article as a 'block swap' project.   A block swap is just what it sounds like.. kinda like a cookie swap but instead of everyone bringing 12 dozen cookies to the party, they each bring 12 quilt blocks and then the swapping begins.  Each person attending then creates a project using the blocks that were collected up at the block swap.  Sounds a lot funner to me than the old boring Tupperware party!  Except for the fact that I'd be playing the part of all  12 of the party goers... I was excited and ready to start the project.

I wanted to keep the project kinda neutral and stick to earthy colors.  I ended up using two fabric collection's that were both offered by the designers from Kansas Troubles Quilters called "Sandhill Plums" and "Cattails & Clover".  I like the overall feel of the mix of the colors and hoped it wouldn't be too dark of a project when completed.  My one complaint is that once I had all my fabrics together and was making my final decisions as to what specific pieces to use where the overall look started to kinda feel a bit too much like Christmas colors, but I really love all the fabrics that I chose so I kept those choices.

The project is intended to be a house warming gift for two friends of mine who just purchased their first home together.  They had invited our family to a party to celebrate and I was looking forward to having the project together as the gift I would bring.  I knew the basic color schemes that they liked and was hopeful  these would fit into their decor.  A few times working on this project I did second guess things.  Making a quilt for someone's bed is one type of gift, but making a quilt intended only to be displayed on a wall, kinda a whole other thing.  I felt a like it may be somewhat presumptuous and I wouldn't want someone to feel compelled to hang it up when it may not be entirely their style.  I suppose that this could be an item displayed in winter or during the holidays, although I hope they like it enough to have it hang in their home all year round.

During my preparation for this project I made a not so startling revaluation... as noted in my 'BOTW - Ohio Star' post, I hate traditional piecing method for putting flying geese together.  Of course, what's an Ohio Star but a 9 patch block that incorporates flying geese!!  So, that's where the plan that I had sketched out in my graph paper  notebook changed from many different Ohio Star blocks of all sizes and some inside other blocks to only one size Ohio Star block, then again to one giant lone star block surrounded by a boarder of Ohio stars.
 
I know what you're thinking... 'hasn't she made enough lone star quilts!?!'  I admit.. I do that pattern a lot.. but I do love it.  The lone star (or Bethlehem star) is one of my favorites.. it's challenging and dramatic when you do it right.  This one is a great example and proved to me that I'm getting better and being precise when piecing it.  After all there are a lot of points that need to match up.  However, it is becoming a bit over done, so I promise after this project to branch out a bit more and save the Bethlehem stars for Christmas.  I may branch out into a project that is more of a a compass star or some type of star that is a bit more challenging.  With this I can use strip piecing and can usually put a star like this together in 1 evening if I've pre-cut my fabrics already.

I wanted the binding of this project to reflect a few different fabrics that were inside the field of the quilt.  And since this item will most likely be on a wall where the back is not displayed or visible I used several different fabrics rather than a one piece back.

The final project completed.  It was a fun project, perhaps a slightly smaller size next time, but I think it will look good within my friends' home.