The Rest of the Quilt Back

One thing you may have noticed about me is that I don't like to let a finished top sit.  I might drag my feet on finishing the top, as my never-ending WIP list can attest, but once it's done, I want the whole quilt to be done.  The only notable exception before now that I can think of is my Sweet Treat quilt, which sat because I was waiting for the Ruby Star Ice Cream print to come out to use as my backing fabric.

Last year, I designed this quilt blocks for a row challenge quilt put on by my quilt guild.  My partner picked a classic block for each row and I put a modern twist on it.  Then we wrote up both patterns and released them to the guild so they could choose whichever one they preferred for their own quilts.  This was a great exercise for me because each row used a different technique, which meant practicing different types of pattern writing.  The picture above is a little misleading because all of the blocks aren't the same size, they are just pictured that way in the graphic.

After my test blocks were complete, I made a full row of each block.  Since this was a mystery/challenge quilt (I was writing the blocks the month before they came out so I didn't really know what the end result would be), I decided it needed a theme.  I found the black sashing fabric in my stash already cut to 2.5" width.  I assume that it was going to be a binding or was leftover from a binding, but much like my leaders and enders quilt, I had no recollection of cutting it (my early sewing days were very disorganized due to the three toddlers I had back then!).  With that as a jumping off point, I decided to have the main fabric in each row be the leftovers from a quilt back.  You know, those long narrow strips of fabric that never seem to match anything?  I've got a pile of them, and I'm sure you do too.  In fact, this quilt didn't really use them up so I still have leftovers of most of these fabrics!  To tie it all together, I used a different scrappy black as the accent in each row.  The end result works so well!

Block 1: Snowball From an unshared quilt	Block 2: Chevron Cool Mittens	Block 3: Tilted Squares Zephyr
Block 4: Flying Geese Palm Canyon Ripples	Block 5: Curves Mini Windsuit & Panda Love	Block 6: Diamonds 2018 Summer Sampler

And Block 7's inspiration was Strip Designs. My released design was the block that ultimately became Space Parade, but I felt like it didn't fit the vibe of this quilt so I cheated and used this black and white striped fabric that I really liked as the final row. I never follow a quilt-along exactly, so I feel like this is a perfectly fitting end for this project!

The back and binding follow a similar pattern - I've finally done enough flannel backs that I had enough flannel leftovers to piece an entire back!

Blue Flowers - from an unshared project
Yellow Dots - Epic Rainbow Bowtie
Pink Plaid - Inside Out Stars
Yellow Flowers - Hello, Spring!
Binding - Bernie's Mittens (original)

I finished this quilt on schedule with the end of the challenge in October of last year.  And then it sat and it sat.  Part of it was laziness about piecing the back and part of it was not being sure how to quilt it.  I sometimes struggle to do an all-over pattern on a project with distinct sections like this, but nothing was jumping out at me for custom quilting either.  So, in an act of desperation, I pieced the back in a single morning (it wasn't really that bad!) and dropped the whole thing off with my friend Lauren at Tekstil Crave and said "please just get it done, you know what I like".  She picked the panto and the thread color and I was very happy to pick it up a few days later!

So seven months after the top was pieced, it became a finished quilt!  It was a long journey, but it was worth it!