FF: Frozen Watermelon, Part 1

I basted my Frozen Watermelon quilt top a little over a week ago, and I made quick process finishing that puppy off. (This makes complete sense now that it is warming up and the flowers are blooming, right???)

I was assisted in my quilting efforts by Boy #3. He had lots of fun trying to pull on the quilt. It was SUPER FUN.

You can see better in the photo below, but I used a hot pink thread. I wanted this quilt to use all my hot pink skillz.

For binding, I used a green and white stripe from my grandma's fabric stash. I also used fabric from her stash for the back. I love this stripe, and I'm pretty excited I have more of it. It seemed like such a fitting way to tie off this quilt.

The quilting zoomed by, and I was so excited to throw this quilt in the wash. AND THEN. Oh, friends. I am seemingly having some bad quilting luck lately. This is the second quilt IN A ROW that I've experienced trouble during the first wash. My Daddy's quilt had dye stains, and now this? UGH. The seam appears to have frayed.

Thanks to the lovely IG community, I had several recommendations for how to fix this baby. I tried fray check, then discreetly fixing the seam, but I couldn't find a way to make it look perfecto. So, I opted for a heart-shaped bit of applique. After finishing the applique, I crossed my fingers and washed the quilt a second time. This time, everything looked perfect! Though I will admit to being nervous when I first pulled it out of the dryer.

I'll have more photos of the actual finish tomorrow!