Number Quilt

When I make quilts, there is inevitably a moment of "is this really going to look ok?" No matter whether a start with a pattern or not, doubt creeps in and makes me wonder about the final product. Usually the moment is brief, even fleeting. Yet this quilt's moment lingered -- should I have used so many different colors? Should I have used such bright colors? Draped over a chair, I'd look at the pieced top and wonder how it would turn out.

Then I bound the quilt and wondered no more. I love how this quilt turned out. It just needed the final border to come together. Only when I laid it out for pictures did I even realize it turned into a number sign, or hash mark. I used Elizabeth's pattern but modified it: I started with larger squares (12") and used 25 total to make the quilt square (it's about 48" square). It's important to follow her instructions about how to move and cut the layers so you end up with all 9 fabrics in each block (a lesson I learned the hard way).

I backed the quilt with soft and warm (in hue and feel) yellow. I've never done a lot of quilting and certainly no free-motion quilting with a fleece back, so I was a little concerned about how it would turn out. It's fine, I learned. It's really no different than quilting with any other back, and it makes the quilt feel quite substantial (stuffing it into a box for mailing was a challenge!).

I went with orange for the binding, picking up on one of the fabrics used in the Crazy 9-Patch blocks. Machine-sewn like usual! To see a very different quilt using the same blocks as a starting point, click over to my flying zebra quilt.

There's just something about the diagonal lines of this image I like. The quilt should have found its way to its new home in Denver and its new own, Matan (means gift, in Hebrew) by now!