My Not-So-Bad Quilt.

Back in August the Minneapolis Modern Quilters took on two new challenges.  The first was a Kona challenge involving a Charm pack and Half Square Triangles.  The second challenge involved Fat Eighths of Jay McCarrolls Habitat line of fabric and ‘Wonky’.

I chose to do the Jay McCarroll challenge even though the fabrics did not thrill me.  I liked the idea of trying to do something “Wonky” – you would think that wouldn’t be so hard for me, but for some reason it was!

In July one of our members showed everyone how to do the Quilt As You Go (QAYG) method of quilting.  We practiced on smaller blocks and I thought, Hmmmm – this might be a quick way to get a quilt done.   I like quick!

After starting and then scrapping my first idea, I settled on doing a ‘Wonky’ log cabin style block.  I started with strips of fabric and large cuts of batting (about 15″ x. 15″)

And then I started sewing each strip down onto the batting.

First sewing the strips down, right sides together and then flipping it and quilting it down to the batting.  I then squared each block up and added a white border to bring each block size to 13″x13″.  It was at this point that I realized that I would still have to back this quilt and unless I want a ‘baggy’ looking back I needed to quilt it – again!!!   ARRGGG!!!

So then I had to think about how I was going to back the quilt.   I normally use the backing fabric design as an outline and will free-motion quilt.  My second favorite way of quilting is to do a free-motion meandering design.  Both of these things would not work on this quilt because it’s already ‘quilted’.  Can you see my delima?

The answer:  Piece the back with left over strips!  (I admit I used more than one pack of Fat Eighths) and then stitch-in-the-ditch around each of the blocks on the front.  Not my favorite technique, but at this point my choices were limited.

After spending the afternoon quilting I thought “That’s not so bad.”  I kind of liked the way it looked and using the walking foot to quilt is now part of my quilting arsenal – but still not my favorite.

 I then decided this quilt needed a special binding –  back to the fabric scraps.  I like to piece my binding when I can, I think because it’s so unexpected and pretty. Plus, I can never decide on just one color for the binding.

Not so bad, huh?