emily makes a quilt - part 2

This weekend I finally, finally had some time to keep working on my quilt! I had every intention of keeping at it through the week, but that just didn't happen. We had a few days of beautiful weather last week, so Drew and I hit the road for after work walks almost every day. I just couldn't bear to go down in the basement when the sun was shining and it was 60º outside!

Quilting is definitely a winter hobby around here.

Starting on Thursday night, I managed to get the last border attached.



This was really quite easy after doing the first 2 -- just a different width.

On Saturday I got down to business with the finishing steps. The first thing I had to do was piece together the backing. I decided to use a solid dark blue -- no patterns to match up!

And sew it to the front.



What's a quilt without some softness in the middle? I decided to use a polyester filling (it's lighter than cotton) with a medium loft. This is a quilt, not a comforter.



So far, so good.

My book recommended the "Quick Turn and Tie" method for beginners. That's me.

This basically required me to roll the quilt up and flip it inside out through a hole I left on 1 side.

Drew helped me with this part and we did it with minimal damage.

After we got it turned I had to HANDSTITCH the opening closed.

Oh, crap.

It looks a little bit like Dr. Frankenstein had a go at it, but at least it will hold. (I hope.)

I'm too ashamed to put photos of that part up, sorry.

Finally I just had to take some embroidery floss and tie the 3 layers together every 4 inches.

Oh my.

I was doing this on the floor for at least 3 hours.

I thought I might have permanently damaged my back, but don't worry, a little time on the couch with my new quilt and I'm good as new.



It only took 2 weekends and about 30 episodes of Felicity and I have a new quilt!



What do you think??

I love it!