I’m a little sad! This is the final post for the Whimsy Garden Sew-along. It’s been fun seeing your blocks appear on Instagram. If you missed the previous posts for the sew-along look for Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.
Now that our quilt tops are together, it’s time to think about quilt backs and quilting. This is the backing I chose. I wanted to pick something that was light in color so that it wouldn’t show through to the front of the quilt. Also, I knew that the quilting thread would likely match my citron background fabric so I wanted something that would work with that thread color too. Additionally, this print has roses and leaves so it seemed perfect! It’s Bonnie Christine’s Pruning Roses for Art Gallery Fabrics.
I try to quilt most of my quilts on my domestic machine. I do a lot of straight line quilting. I quilt with vertical lines, horizontal lines, even lines, randomly spaced lines, or grids. I like the fact that they let the piecing shine and don’t steal the show, while providing really nice texture. I used vertical lines spaced a 1/2″ apart for the quilt that I made for the book (above). You get a little peek of the frog fabric that I used for the backing in this picture too!
I sent my sew-along quilt to a quilter that I really trust and like to work with, Christina Lane from Sometimes Crafter. Christina is also my guest this week! Please visit her blog for more ideas and to see what she had to say about quilting this top for me. I asked if she had any grass designs and ultimately settled on this one which I like. It’s adds great texture and sticks with the theme!
Christina has mocked up some quilting possibilities for you. I am sure that you will find her post valuable!
I used the background fabric for the quilt binding too. I often do this because it doesn’t draw my eyes to the perimeter, but instead to the flowers.
Goals
This week, the goal is to make some progress toward finishing your quilt top so that it doesn’t land in a UFO pile. You can order backing fabric, piece a backing, baste, maybe even quilt and bind!
Bonus!
This week, we have a bonus offer from Pro-Stitcher! This is available to all sew-along participants so everyone is a winner. Visit the Pro-Stitcher Facebook page to download a custom quilting design. They created this design just for the sew-along and it can be printed and transferred to your quilt with a favorite marking method, or by sewing directly through the paper. There is a great Connecting Threads tutorial that demos the technique. They use Golden Threads Quilt Paper which you can purchase here (affiliate link). I really want to give this a try!
Prizes!
This week, there will be two winners!
Havel’s Sewing has offered another set of tools that includes a rotary cutter, scissors and thread snips! This prize will ship to a US address only.
A second winner will receive a copy of EQ8 quilt design software! This prize is open to everyone, worldwide because it is a digital download.
The giveaway will be run on Instagram, just like last time. Any picture that you post in the next two weeks using the hashtags #whimsygardensewalong and #petalandstembook will count as an entry. Pictures can include progress shots if you are still working on the quilting. An entry could be a picture of your backing fabric, a shot of you basting, a picture of your binding all cut and ready to go, a picture of the edge to edge quilting design you have chosen, a picture of you quilting…you get the idea. Maybe you will even have a finished quilt to show!! How cool would that be? The winners will be chosen on Sunday, July 5, 2020. Just find my IG post with the prize image for all the details.
Congratulations to the winner of the previous giveaway, @sewdaily!