Caribbean Blue: the finale

It has been quite a while since I've worked on this. I have to say, though I super duper like the final product, I did not especially enjoy piecing this top. I got the bulk of the top done back in May but got frustrated with the wonkiness of my growing rectangle and inability to measure accurately in the space I had, so folded it up, made a face at it, and put it away for the summer. After finishing up Steve and Egle's picnic quilt, I cleared off the card table and wondered 'what's next?' I consulted my list of projects in progress and projects I want to try out some day, and I noticed this quilt at the top of the "in progress" list. Aww shucks.

I pulled out what I had already, ironed it, and spread it out on the floor again. The final size is supposed to be 68" x 72"and so requires some piecing of backing fabric, which I did purchase and have waiting in the wings. Instead of continuing with adding more strips to the top, I decided to just take my two yard cut of solid for the back, lay it out to see if it would fit what I had already, and call it done. I only needed to add one more strip of fabric to finish out one corner. Hah! A finish in sight. I had some leftover batting pieces trimmed from other projects, so I zigzagged a couple of them together, and that determined the final size of my quilt which is something like 55" x 66" (the batting was slightly shorter than 2 yards). Weird I know, but it's actually a pretty good sized throw. I've tested it out already. A little bit of simple stitch in the ditch to quilt, some binding, and voila. And on a Wednesday night, no less!

This thing is SOFT! The whole thing except the binding is made with cotton voile which is somewhat slippery to work with for 1/4 inch seaming, but completely worth the extra effort. This was the first time I bought a substantial amount of prints from any collection (that certainly started a trend - ha!). I LOVE the Soul Blossoms fabrics. Pretty much all of them. The prints are just my taste, and the colors are all great but especially these yellows, greens, and blues. So I splurged. It is made with Amy Butler's free Sun Glow Quilt pattern which has turned out beautifully, just the construction technique is not my thing.

I have a few pieced strips left over that might turn into some fun projects, and I have about a quarter yard of each print left for me to hoard until the perfect idea comes along. For now, I'm going to enjoy cuddling under this quilt an awful lot.