I'm soooo excited...I finished my 36 patch quilt this weekend. There is a LOT going on in this one! I think I used 75 different fabrics in all. Wowza! All from the stash. Double wowza!!
If you recall, I made this for the quilt along I hosted this summer here on the blog in celebration of my 36th birthday. You can find the block tutorial
here.
I'm very pleased with how it turned out! I was stalled for quite some time trying to figure out the right backing. I wanted to make a 36 patch back, and I started by picking 36 different fabrics from the stash for the back. When I tried to lay them out, things just weren't coming together.
A good friend suggested that I use just 2 fabrics from my stash, so it would look like a 36 patch on the back. Of course! That made perfect sense. Thanks Tara! After rummaging around in my stash, this is what I came up with.
I used
Jennifer Paganelli dots (LOVE!) and this fun black/white/gray print from Prints Charming. The backing makes me happy! With a 36 patch on the back I realize that I was in great danger of carrying the theme way too far. But I had it in my head to do so and I just couldn't let it go. I'm very glad I stuck with my original vision. Here's a bit of a closer shot.
To quilt it, I used my free motion foot and quilted vertical lines down the center of each row, and added a little circle/loopy thing in each square. It went so smooth and QUICK! After I was done quilting, I couldn't believe it. I used less than 4 bobbins! I almost felt like I cheated. :) I am very pleased with the quilting, though. I'll definitely try something like this again.
For the binding I used Denyse Schmidt tiles fabric. I LOVE this fabric. LOVE. IT. It's a crazy choice, adding more chaos to the already busy quilt...but I like that, actually. Usually I like a darker binding, but this seemed to suit it just fine. Plus, I'm trying to get better at using my favorite fabrics rather than hoarding them. This is one little baby step in the right direction!
The quilt measures 72" square.
If you'd like, you can check out some of the other 36 patch quilts from the quilt along
here. Thanks to everyone who joined me for this quilt along...it was a lot of fun! I've got another quilt along idea up my sleeve, just waiting for January. Can't wait!
