Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Trajectory: Making the Quilt Back and Quilting

So, anyone still with me here? Sorry for the lapse in posting, but life has a way of rearranging the best laid plans.

Here's what I did for the back of my quilt. I started by making one block using two leftover boomerang blocks and two plain blocks:


Then I used a bunch of the scraps and trimmings of the various gray and yellow solids to make a big long strip. I really like using my leftover fabrics from the front in some way on the back - helps to tie everything together. Then I just added a bunch of kona in ash to fill everything out and make the back about 4 inches larger than the front on all sides.


Then it was all about winding a bunch of bobbins and finding my groove with the walking foot.


For this quilt, I didn't mark anything, just started in the center and used the seam lines as a rough guide. Some of the lines are more straight than others and I like the organic flow of it not being too "perfect."


And there you have it - back and quilting all done!

Yes, I realize that I didn't say anything about basting and making the quilt sandwich. There is lots of great information out there about how to do that part and if you've already made a quilt or two then you may already have a way that works for you. If you're curious, I usually spray bast my quilts because I don't have the patience (or knees) for pin basting. I do have some issues with the use of chemicals and what I might be doing to the environment so I'm constantly questioning their use and may re-evaluate my preference. For now, it's what I do and I've had great results. Not one single pucker on this quilt, front or back.

Meanwhile, I'm almost done with the hand sewing part of the binding and will have a finished quilt to show you next time! If you've been playing along, drop me a line and let me know how it's going. I'd love to see other interpretations.


5 comments:

  1. whoa, i love your skinny channel quilting! just a lovely lovely project.

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  2. Yes, I was giddy for you seeing your seams lined up. Thank you, it really helps to see the back to see where things went wrong.

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  3. Thank-you for posting this!

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  4. Beautiful! Personally, I've made a dozen or so quilts and always have puckers. I'm trying again this summer to make puckerless quilts to no avail. Usually, I put away my fabric out of frustration for a year and try again next year.

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  5. Megan - thank you so much for sharing your design. I recently finished a lap quilt using ombré as the background to 4 different colors for the “boomerangs”. The special recipient is an architect, artist and loves sailing- the modern vibe “hit” so many things for him. I’m an amateur/beginner quilter and it turned out better than I could have imagined.

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