Finally Finished!

This is almost entirely a quilt created from scraps.

Exception is the Kona Cotton White that I used for the background. I almost always keep at least three yards of this fabric in my stash.

I also had to buy batting. For a scrappy quilt I should have done some “frankenbatting” but I didn’t have enough pieces! My batting stash is depleted! I usually use “Warm n White” from the Warm Company for a white background quilt but it wasn’t available so I ordered “Quilters Dream” after checking out the recs on one of my favorite quilting blogs.

Then the backing. Also entirely scrappy. I started by cutting up a bunch of solid color “layer cakes” then moved onto orphaned blocks, and then hit all my bigger yardage.

Piecing the backing turned out kind of fun. While it took extra time, I like the end result! It was fun remembering what I originally used each piece of fabric for and where those orphaned blocks came from!

I stuck the label into the middle of the scrappy backing. I made it before I had the backing even finished so I REALLY needed to get this done before the end of March. And I did. Finished it last week!

I had a difficult time coming up with a name for this quilt. Usually I have a song, poem, or quote running through my head when I’m putting a quilt together. But not this one. I even told Alexa to play some love songs so I could get some inspiration. I ended up with “In a Heartbeat” because that’s how I feel right now. In a heartbeat our whole lives can change. So much going on in my own life, my community, my country, and my world. In a heartbeat.

Basting the quilt was quite an ordeal. It was too big to fit on my design wall. I took it to the learning center to do some table basting and that didn’t work out either but at least I got all the layers spray basted. Took it home and did small sections on my pressing table.

I used a serpentine stitch that comes with my machine and my walking foot for the quilting.

And finally, the binding. Again, going with stuff from my stash. I had actually planned on buying a multi-colored stripe from my local quilt shop but opened up my box of leftover bindings from previous projects and was blown away. I had five different dark blue bindings in there! Blue is my favorite color—as you probably already know! I needed about 12 yards and there were 9 yards in that box! I was able to make the other 3 yards of binding from my stash.

I machine-stitched the binding to the back of the quilt, brought it to the front and then used a blanket stitch to secure it.

And.

We.

Are.

Done!

I will eventually write up a wee very simple tutorial. And maybe even a diagram.

Plus I need better photos of the quilt. It is queen-sized and too big for me or Terry to hold up. So we will have to get clever and figure out a better way to get a complete pic. (We had scheduled a photo shoot for yesterday but we had tornado warnings and hail. Decided that could wait!)

For now, this is it!