Today, I have about 1200 things to do. I absolutely have to finish them before I go to sleep tonight. And what am I doing? Well...I finished sewing the binding on this lovely, coerced my husband into being a quilt holder since the ground was wet, and now I'm writing this post. A quilty gal has to have her priorities! When I realized I was within striking distance of finishing up this bad boy before the end of Q3, well, you better believe I was going to make it happen. I'll just be up really really late tonight.
I used a pattern from the May/June 2014 issue of Love of Quilting. I loved the color scheme and the finished quilt so much, that I knew I had to make one. (If I knew this was for a girl baby, I would totally have gone hot pink, but alas, it's a Team Green baby, so a green quilt seemed more fitting.) The quilting is a mix of straight line and FMQ, and I had to bury about a kajillion threads, but it was totally worth it.
Before I started piecing, I hadn't intended to add a border. A yard of fabric would be a perfect fit to use as backing. But when I finished the top, it needed a little something to pull it all together, so I went with a black border. It meant my perfect yard of fabric backing was now too small, so I pieced together some of the scraps and added them in.
I almost always match my bobbin thread to my top thread, and this time was no different. I love the resulting lime, kelly green, white, and black threads all over the backing. I also adore this backing fabric. It was love at first sight, and I bought it knowing it wouldn't match perfectly with the front. (Did that make me pause for even a second? Nope.) The quilt measures about 36" x 45" and uses a myriad of different fabrics from a number of different sources. The border is Kona black.
I set seven goals for the Q3 FAL being hosted at The Littlest Thistle. (You can see my original list here.) This is finish number five. Project six (my city sampler blocks) was fairly unrealistic, and project seven dissolved, so I'm ecstatic to have completed what I did. In addition to this quilt, I also finished some cloth napkins, a couple of aprons, a 241 tote, and several placemats.
I'm linking up with the other FAL finishes at The Littlest Thistle and with TGIFF, hosted by Quokka Quilts.
I love it so much! The front is stunning and the back is whimsical- perfect! Don't stay up too late...
ReplyDeleteI love how this turned out so much! The black border really did bring it all together, and the pop of bright green for a border is perfection. The backing fabric is super fun, and who cares if it isn't all matchy-matchy: the quilt is a fun and having two distinct sides is super cool. In other words, I wouldn't have been able to resist the fun animal print either. Good luck staying awake to get everything else done!
ReplyDeleteIt looks great! I'm curious about the name. Is your husband Indonesian? Ikat = woven in Indonesian. Or is this the name of the original pattern? Thanks for linking up!
ReplyDeleteYou've been very productive ticking off those items on your list, so glad you stayed up late to tell everyone about it instead of dong the million other chores you could have done!
ReplyDeleteIt's fun to see this project finished -- I recall the grief matching some of those seams caused. I second your move for the black border. It really grounds the quilt, don't you think? BTW: I'd love to hear more about how you tackled the quilting. Did you start with the straight-line work? If so, did you quilt selvage to selvage or work you way from the center (causing the need to bury so many ends!)?
ReplyDeleteIt looks so great! I love all the different shapes that pop out depending on where you look. The black border is the perfect choice. And I really can't see the issues you posted about earlier! :D Is that a blue cat wearing a beret?!
ReplyDeleteThat backing fabric with the animals is one of the most adorable things i have ever seen.
Five finishes is a great achievement in a quarter. With a new baby too!
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