Orange Creamsicle Quilt

Last week I mentioned a quilt that I needed to bind before shipping it off to BASICS/Promesa as a donation quilt. This crinkly specimen is that quilt, and I am proud to say that I managed to stuff 2 quilts into a Flat-Rate Envelope. Even the postal worker at my nearby post office remarked on my stuffing abilities (luckily the 3 clerks there are very supportive of cramming as much as possible into free rate envelopes and boxes; I've heard some other post offices are not so kind).

In its full glory -- lots of orange (Moda Bella Solid) and 3 improv pieced squares. I made the squares this winter with some scraps from several other quilts and then they sat in a pile of fabric for about 5 months before I figured out what to do with them. I opted for a simple quilt with one row of the funky squares. Negative space does the heavy lifting here.

Here's an up-close look at those squares. I think the middle one is my favorite with the big chunk of fabric on top and lots of little pieces on the bottom. But I like the other squares too, especially the black-and-white swirls plopped in the middle of the square on the right. If anything, this quilt reminds me that scraps can go a long way and be transformed into all sorts of interesting layouts.

I opted for stipple quilting -- thanks for everyone's tips about getting rid of those ugly loops on the back side. To be honest, I have no idea what trick did it -- cleaning out the link, rethreading, trying new thread...I pretty much did it all and had no problems. This has happened to me before...that darn[ing] foot poses problems and then suddenly all is well in free-motion quilting land. I've certainly gotten faster at it though I'm still working on a more even rhythm and few jagged angles.

I pieced together another flannel back from flannel remnants -- some stripes, solids, and gingham all mixed up together make for a warm and soft quilt. I love the simple solid white binding as I think it brings the whole quilt together. Note too that it was possible to take pictures outside; these were taken at the end of last week, when the sun still made an appearance. The rain has taken over yet again. I wouldn't mind the drizzle but we've had several episodes of thunder, lightening, and crazy downpour that I could really do without. Personally, I think it should only rain between 11 pm and 7 am so it doesn't disturb my plans, but the weather gods have not decided to follow my brilliant logic. Ah well.