September Morning

With all the craziness of trying to get ready for the Floyd Co. Arts and Crafts show the first weekend of October, I missed writing about my last quilt, which I finished right before the craft show.

Originally the top of this quilt was intended to be a pieced backing for "Driftwood Cove." When I got the backing done I realized that it really wanted to be a quilt top all of its own, so I set it aside for a second project. By the end of summer I had cut a flannel sheet to use as batting and found a good quality tan bed sheet to use as the backing for this quilt, but other projects yelled louder and this one was left undone. Then suddenly it was the end of September and I hadn't finished it even though I was intending on taking it to the craft show. I set aside a couple of days to finish it up, which I did the Tuesday before the show. It was morning, and still September, so this one's named "September Morning."

The colors in this quilt are much the same as "Driftwood Cove," but I used more of the silvery-grayish-tan material (upcycled material from a duvet cover by Martha Stewart) as sashing between my rows of charm squares. The perpendicular rows of squares give this quilt a little more of a modern feel.

The backing is a 100% cotton bed sheet with a square tile pattern woven into the fabric. I like how it paired with the material on the quilt top in terms of color and pattern. However, I had trouble quilting this piece and I suspect it was because of the "slicker" fabric of the bed sheet. Even though I had thoroughly pinned the piece before quilting to limit the tiny pleats that occur when the fabric shifts and bunches, I still had trouble and needed to pull out some stitches and re-stitch some areas. The backing still looks a little rough in a couple of places. I'll have to keep this in mind the next time I use a similar type of sheet as backing material. Maybe it won't be as problematic if I'm quilting a smaller piece.

Initially I thought I would quilt this piece by stitching parallel rows along side the columns of squares, but I didn't want to stitch across those three shorter columns. I figured that would only accentuate the fact that my columns were not spaced evenly and I didn't want to quilt between some of the squares but through the middle of the othersa. In the end I stitched in the ditch along each of the columns of squares and then in between the long horizontal columns as well. Between the shorter columns I quilted a cross-hatch pattern to create some large diamond shapes for more interest. To finish the quilt I bound it using a tan floral fabric and then attached a quilt label. My Sharpie pen didn't write smoothly on the material I used for the label, so I need to practice making labels a little more, but I'm pleased that my pieces are now "signed."

I must admit that while I like this quilt, it's not really a favorite of mine. Maybe I had gotten tired of the neutral colors by the time I finished this one up. Maybe it's residual annoyance at the pleating that occurred on the back while I quilted it. I dunno. I'll certainly try the "parallel rows with cross hatching in another area" quilting again...I definitely like that aspect of "September Morning" and may use it on my next piece.