I started this quilt quite a long time ago. I want to say it was in the fall last year even though I bought the fabric for it just after the fabric was released. I managed to get 2 rows of the blocks done before I put it all away, but I was determined that it was going to be my first big project to complete when I got my sewing area all set up.
Here is the full view. It's actually a pretty big quilt. Before I washed it up it was about 68" x 90". I am sure it shrunk up a bit, but it's still a good size!
I had just a fun time making this one. The top actually went together pretty quickly, it was the quilting that was very time consuming. I decided the best way to quilt it would be a free motion, meandering design. I ended spending about 7 hours over the course of 3 days quilting it on my Janome. My hands were killing me and I have to say that I am very thankful for the cheap gardening gloves I found. They have little rubber nubs on the fingers and they are perfect for machine quilting! Actually, I think my sister gave them to me a couple years ago at my niece's garden themed birthday party.
Anywho...I love how it turned out and I am now no longer afraid of free motion so I am going to start practicing some different quilting designs to use on future projects. This is the first one I am stoked to try out. I just love the final look of the petals. I am sure I will have to use it on a small project before I have the nerve to test it out on something big.
I got pretty lucky that my backing fabric ended up matching the top perfectly. I wanted a backing that I didn't have to piece so I looked at the wide backing fabric on Fabric.com and I ended up loving this one. It's a swirly paisley print that also has houndstooth. The pinks match perfectly so I was a happy quilter.
I am a sucker for a pin dot binding and this pink is the perfect match as well as being just the right thing to offset how much of the Kona Ash that I used. I love the pop of brighter pink around the edges. I think it was just the perfect touch to finish it all up. I did a wider binding than I usually do and I ended up really liking it more than the thinner so this may be my go-to binding size from now on.
Now that this project is completed I am working on a swap! I haven't done a swap in a couple years now and I am excited to be taking part in this one. It's a secret partner swap and it's for Halloween. I will post more about that soon...
xoxo, Shelly
