Contrary

Last night I made the numbers 2-0-1-7 for the year and then sewed them together, then sewed my surname together. Tonight I'll finish the rest of the name panel, and assemble the backing for the Colorado quilt.

Oh, you are looking at the back of these panels. And yes, the back of every quilt I make looks just like these - neat, threads trimmed, pressed, and flat.

What Fabric?

Chris gave me a wonderful compliment when my sampler quilt, Letters From Home, arrived at her house for quilting. "I've gotta hand it to ya," she said, "You didn't drop the ball on the back." I used a Kaffe Fassett fabric for the back, and included a cat emoticon. I've never forgotten what Chris said, and I try to find the perfect fabrics for the backs of all my quilts. Here is the fabric I have chosen for the Black Rules:
I like to use large prints on the backs of my quilts. The back of a quilt is a big area, and if you use a small scale print, it just looks... boring. I like BIG prints. I simply adore a lot of the Westminster fabrics, and the large Kaffe Fassetts, and Jane Sassaman, who designed this fabric.

Yeah, I know these colors are not quite perfect for the quilt, but they match the feel of it, and it's my quilt, so I can break the rules if I want to! I had to piece two lengths together to get the backing wide enough (the quilt is 50" wide, and the backing has to be 12"bigger...) Fortunately the repeat wasn't big, and I was able to match the pattern with no loss. Woo hoo!

The quilt is flying to Chris in Tennessee today for quilting. I can't wait to see what she does with it!

Back

Here's the back of the Alphabet Sampler Quilt. It flies out to the longarm quilter on Monday.

What next? Well, I have to clean the sewing studio (and the rest of the house).