Back at the Machine (for now)

It's been a long time since I've really had a chance to sit down and do a long haul at my machine. My lovely husband got an afternoon off recently and took the baby toddler out for a couple hours so I could actually work on something. We've tried letting them play in the other room while I work on quilting or sewing, but the toddler comes running the moment he hears the machine whirring. He likes to sit on my lap while I try to sew -- which is challenging at best and impossible at other times. 

During my time off, I made a quick patchwork flannel back for my scrappy x-plus quilt. 

And I even managed to get it basted! That's usually where I bog down these days, so even though I wanted to do something more fun, I pushed myself through. Pin basting is just not my favorite -- and I have yet to find a replacement that is any better!

I'm going to try to get through this one as quickly as I can. Yes, "quickly as I can" is not the recipe for a beloved quilt. But, as much as I do like this one, I think we missed 'beloved' quite a while ago. I seem to have that moment with almost all my quilts though, so maybe after quilting and/or washing, I'll feel differently.

I hope so. I like to love all my projects.

Can't wait to see how it looks when I'm done!


Later:

Well, it doesn't look much changed yet -- though I love the way the perfect binding really sets off a quilt top!

I was able to do almost all of three sides in the same brown (leftover) binding, and finished up with two more scraps of brown binding. I had envisioned using black and white -- but there's no black in the whole quilt top! With brown already playing a prominent roll in the top, and just enough brown bias tape left over, it seemed like the perfect solution!

The back is comprised of three different yellow flannels and a tiny patch of dark green flannel. I'm a little worried about the shrinkage when it gets washed... At the moment it is only quilted in one direction (lines between the blocks and a line on either side of the center of the plus). I had intended to quilt the same in both directions, but obviously I didn't. It seemed well quilted when I finished the first direction. We'll see if I'm right or sadly, sadly wrong!

I'm about to pop it in the wash and find out. I'm so excited to have a finish -- and so looking forward to seeing it all done. I really think a quilt isn't finished until it is washed at least once.