I’m so so pleased with how this pieced quilt back turned out. Not to mention impressed with how quickly I was able to sew it up. As you can see, it only vaguely resembles my initial schematic.
My goal was to use up scrap pieces of fabric from the quilt front, from other projects and from ends of bolts from the workroom. I also really wanted to include a few fabrics that I had collected over the years. The turquoise leaves on cream was an ebay purchase a couple years ago that I hoped would go into my first quilt. The dark grey Lecien fabric along the bottom was the only fabric that I got in quantity specifically for the back.
Using the schematic as my guide, I worked in sections, starting with the top right yellow block. Within each section I often had to piece several different fabrics together to make up the correct dimension that i needed. Mostly I let the fabric dictate where it would go. There was a definite feeling of synchronicity, as I laid the fabrics on the floor according to their size and colour.
Once I put together a section, I worked on the adjacent section and then attached the two sections together. I made a couple ‘mistakes’ by attaching sections before I meant to which lead to a different configuration. I also rotated one section ninety degrees because the fabric patches seemed to be too lined up in the centre of the quilt. I kept running halfway up the stairs to look at how it was coming together from above. The aerial view was very helpful. I would also go all the way upstairs for a minute and return to see how it looked as I was descending and the quilt was ‘revealed’. Ridiculous, I know, but do you know what I mean?
One of my favourite details is the mini patchwork stripe the runs across the bottom. This is made up of all my scrap cut offs from the quilt front blocks. I sewed the little pieced strips together into two very long strips which I trimmed and sewed to each other. I plan on doing a couple sets of pillow cases, also using this detail.
I guess this means I now have to baste this massive thing together. Oh geez. I’m going to hand quilt the entire thing, so it might be a while before you see it again in its entirety. Just know that I’ll be sitting in front of the tv over the fall happily stitching away.
