DWM: backing, boats, bargains, and a finish

B is for backing.


I finally pieced the backing for Orca Bay.   The red check is cotton bedsheet. The blocks are leftovers.  The blue fabric is vintage -- 36" wide.  Doesn't it look like  contemporary print?  I finished the flimsy back in January, 2012. You can see it here .  The subliminal message (I think) is that until I made the backing I could put off making the commitment to have it professionally quilted.  I'll be calling Wendy (the long-armer) this week!


Contemporary look, but vintage

When I piece a back I try to make it non-directional--note the placement of the two red/white prints on both side panels.






B is for babies, and boys, and boats.  I have quilts to make for two baby boys (one of whom has been born, the other of whom is due this summer).  I thought that sailboats would be fun and I found a pattern in McCall's "America Makes Fast Quilts" (Autumn, 2009).  I'm making the sails out of novelty fabrics (a decision made after the I made the test block, which is the one on the lower right). 












And here is this week's finish!  I made Diamond Stamps last May.  I took it out of the box, pieced the backing, basted it, and got to work.  I'm pleased with the freehand pumpkin seed design in the blocks.   To my horror I discovered pleats in the back -- not bad, but pleats nonetheless, and surrounded by quilting that I did not want to rip out.  Instead I washed the quilt in hot water and dried it in a hot dryer. The crinkles camouflage the pleats. Whew!  The border quilting is "almost feathers," a design with which I'm getting proficient.


Closeup of the quilting

No, that's not a pleat -- I folded the quilt to show the pieced back.







And B is for buying.  I needed more light blue tone-on-tone for the sailboat sky and wanted a medium blue for the sea.  I bought both at Joann's....and then found two beautiful lemon yellow-and gray prints that will make a great jacket to go with the new gray slacks I bought at the Boston Store.....Just 8 yards, total, and on sale -- bargains!

You can see what other quiltmakers are up to at Judy's Patchwork Times.