Piecing Together Gwen's Quilt Back - Work in Progress - Needlework Monday
Monday has finally arrived again! I'm super excited to share with you the progress of Gwen's quilt. I have officially finished the back of the quilt! This is one of those quilt backs that uses a ton of scraps from the front. I think Gwen will love it!
First things first. I got out all the scraps that were left over from the front. This quilt had a ton left over, so that was really good. This back is pretty large, so it needed a lot! I sorted the pieces into longer ones and smaller squares to start sewing them together.
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White Kitty even got to help supervise!
You'd think I would have learned from last week. I started laying the pieces out on the floor to make sure they were long enough to cover the back when Mirakuru walked in and claimed her place on the rug! Akihiro even got himself in trouble as well by sitting on the top while I was measuring!!
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So laying the pieces out to make sure they were long enough and no two colors were next to each other was moved to the couch. I then started sewing all the pieces together in longer strips until they were the desired length. If they get too long, I just cut them down to the right size and add the leftover pieces to a new one. I even made a funky pieced square.
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Sewing all the strips together went pretty quickly. I ended up only having to cut a few strips from leftover fabric. The scrap strips ended up being the majority of the quilt.
Ta da!! The stripes are all in place, but of course I'm not done.
I contact the quilt shop in town where I'd like to use their large machine to quilt it. They say that each side on the back has to be 4" longer than the quilt front, so I have to add a few extra inches to the side and top. And I wanted to personalize it with Gwen's name! I forgot to take pictures of this part, but I just cut out the letters of her name (after typing it out and tracing it onto paper). Then I iron HeatnBond to the back of it so it sticks to the fabric. Iron it in place and then zig zag stitch all around it! Voila.
And now we have the final product! I am pretty happy with it and it should be large enough on every side for the machine!
What do you think? Will she love it?
Click here for the post of the front of Gwen's wonky star quilt
#needleworkmonday initiated by @crosheille
This is fantastic. How can you make such a beautiful blanket out of scraps!!!!? When I see you photos I want to be Gwen. I really would love such a beautiful gift: personal, artful, and useful.
And I love your cat, she has such an unusual fur colour <3
Lol - if your name were Gwen, perhaps she could sell it to you. ;) Ha! Our kitty has white fur, but her tail is orange with one black spot. She likes to keep to herself...I wish she were more of a lap cat!!
We have a stray cat which lives with us but is also not too cuddly. A little stroking and then she has enough :-D
Yes she will!! It's positively gorgeous! (And, those dogs! haha). I'm stealing your idea of string piecing the back with leftover scraps 🤣 Maybe I'll quit having so many scraps in my scrap basket that way!
I had to toss my bags of scraps when we moved. Just decided I didn't need to drag them around with me forever. Then the first quilt top I wanted to make was SCRAPPY stars and I couldn't do it because I didn't have any scraps! Ha! The leftovers from this quilt are just a few usable small pieces. It's nice to not have any leftovers really...unless you need them! :)
Goodness knows I can't bring myself to toss scraps. Even the totally unusable bits I'm saving to stuff cat beds, haha. (Cat beds that I have yet to make and that the Husband will tell you I'll never make).
Lol - that is a great idea! I'll have to start collecting scraps...and old clothes. ;)
What’s not to Love about this beautifully colored, bright personalized quilt? She’s going to adore it and all of those bright colors and different patterns will keep her little mind stimulated. I like the funky piece! 😃 I’ve been enjoying watching the process of you making this, keep up the great work!!
Thanks! I've had fun with this quilt and I like how it's turning out. I just need to figure out what fabric to bind it in... I have no real leftover scraps, so I'll have to cut it out from some fabric. :) The funky piece took a little while to put together! Ha. My husband always says if you want to make something (like a treehouse) look wonky, it takes more work than actually doing it the right way. ;)
I’d say it was worth the extra work! 😉
I’m actually thinking about sewing fabric to the back of the baby blanket for the first time. All of these beautiful quilts and sewing projects you all have shared is inspiring me to do something different!! 😃
Good work. I don't really sew, have tried a few times, but I do appreciate it. Love the art. I draw. I love to design. Love the photos here. Love animals. So fun.
Thanks for stopping by! I'm glad you like it. I can't draw at all...unless stick figures count. ;)
This is so pretty, a quilt of many colours , I love how the colours are easy on the eyes, not rioting. And the purple background for the GWEN is really nice, I must have missed your other posts about Gwen because I dont know who Gwen is lol. Happy needleworkmonday
Gwen is my niece. The link to the top of her quilt is in this post. :)
Ok🙂 thanks for clarifying that
Most definitely @apanamamama ! Who would not like a personalised quilt with those lively colours !!
It would be interesting to see how that quilting machine works... I'm off to check that out on the net now :)
I went by the shop today and tried out the massive quilting machine. It was way easier than quilting on my Brother, but it was sort of time consuming in other ways and ended up making the quilt I was doing be crooked and the bottom ran out before the top. Ha. It's easier on my tiny machine I think! I took some pics today. The machine was called the HQ Avante.
It will be great to see part of that machine / part of the process... @apanamamama.
I've just done a search on the HQ Avante - truly impressive !
It is a massive machine! Lots of power there! I still need to finish the quilt I started on that machine...but I'm too tired tonight! Maybe this weekend. ;)
I am sure she will love it! It reminds me of a giant jigsaw puzzle. And What cute little "helpers" you have! 😀
Thanks! I'm glad I was able to get the back done last week. My helpers are kind of nutty! ;)
oh this is great! I love how simply you arranged this and yet, it looks so beautiful! What caught my eye is the one with the stars, on which the dog is standing.. That one is special for me!
Anyway, just keep on creating, I love that. Set your mind and heart free!
The stars are the top of this quilt. This is the back. I link to the top in the post if you haven't seen it. I really like the top and I think it goes really well with this back. :)
She will absolutely LOVE it! It came out so cute!
I dont know why I never thought about making a quilt back out of scraps... What a great idea!
Thanks! Yeah, I have pretty much made backs out of scraps from the start because I hate wasting the fabric. :) I had bags of scraps back in the states, but I left them when we moved.
I hate wasting fabric too! I have piles of scraps that my hubby says I should throw away, but I keep thinking, maybe someday Ill use it for something..... LOL
Very Beautiful.
Thanks