Finished!

Yeah!

I love the backing!

I love the whole quilt!

So pretty! So bright!

Something I have learned from this QAL.  I usually do each block in a “quilt as you go” method.  Finish the block, attach the batting and then do any applique or quilting necessary.  Which means at the end I have to do the same with the framing and borders–attach the batting to the fabric and then attach it to the blocks.  Not difficult, but in the future, I think I will wait until all of the blocks are released and then attach the frames, etc, and then add the batting and applique and quilt.

Anyhow, I learn so much from every QAL that I do.  The designers are very quick to help out.

Now some details on the quilt.

I almost always use a temporary spray adhesive for basting my quilts.  Once upon a time I taped everything to the floor in a guest bedroom and sprayed.  What a mess.  Plus crawling around on the floor was a bit painful for my knees!

Thanks to Christa at Christa Quilts I no longer have to punish my poor knees nor have sticky residue everywhere.  I took her brilliant idea of spraying the quilt parts outside into my garage.

Sheryl might have a she-shed, but I have my own Gggggirl Garage.  I would love to move all my sewing and other crafty stuff out there.  But I live in Florida.  It gets HOT!  And then it gets cold in those few weeks of the year we actually have Winter.  So I only do mosaics out there or occasionally sand and paint furniture.

I now pin the backing on a wall in my garage and do all the spraying.  OMG! So much easier!  Here’s the backing thumb tacked on the wall.

Here I am after spraying the backing with the adhesive and putting the quilt top on.  

Done!  Ready to take it off of the wall and to my sewing room!  

Then I press it and start quilting! Actually, most of the quilting is already done in the Quilt as you Go Method.  Now I’m just making sure the backing stays attached! I used a variegated orange thread for the top and a thread that matched the backing in the bobbin.

And the last step is the binding.  Binding is easy.  I just cut 2 1/2″ strips by the width of the fabric and stitch them together with a 45 degree angle. But joining the quilt binding has always been a bit stressful for me.  I now use this method from QuiltFabrication.com. Relatively easy.  And works pretty well.  But I still approach joining the binding with trepidation!

So the binding is on and looks super and it would be easy-peasy to just stitch in the ditch and have it finished.

But…..

I only do that if I’m in a huge hurry.  (Like a Christmas gift quilt that needs to be delivered in two hours!)

It just never turns out nice.  I machine stitch small projects like the potholders and hot pads because they will only last a few years.  But a quilt should last FOREVER!

So I hand stitch the back of the binding down with an invisible stitch.  Looks good but it takes a loooong time.  (That’s what Netflix is for!)

Done!

This quilt is headed to North Dakota in a few weeks to keep my son and daughter-in-law warm while during their long cold winter!

On to the next quilt!