Sometimes, despite all the best intentions, I have a quilt top [or several] that sits unfinished on my shelf for some time. A couple of years ago, I hosted a quilt along for my Shift Quilt pattern, and I ended up making four quilt tops in varying sizes in less than a month. That’s way faster than I can finish them, so they sat patiently on my shelf.

I have been making an effort to really pare down what I have and be realistic about what I can make and use, and in that quest I stumbled across this quilt top, and felt an immediate urge to quilt it. I found the perfect Liberty print on my shelf to give it some serious wow factor, and was able to knock out a quilt AND use some fabric at the same time. Win, win! I employed my only obedient child to help me get some photos, and she didn’t disappoint. 

This quit is made entirely of lawn and some double gauze (the Boston Terrier fabric, same print, different color), and all of it is from DuckaDilly and Jones & Vandermeer. They have the very best stuff!

When I made this quilt top initially, I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. I thought it was very pretty, but it was so low volume, it just didn’t feel much like me. Thankfully, finding the much darker backing and hot pink binding gave it lots of contrast. Its much more Meredith now. You can see some full shots of the quilt top in this post. 

Sometimes when I am working on a project, I’ll start out with a vision, but won’t know, for instance, how much quilting it needs to make it “just right”. I think with this quilt, the things that made it have that perfect balance were the additions of the dark, striking backing fabric and the hot pink binding. I guess its kind of like when you are making a sauce or mashed potatoes and you have to get that perfect balance of flavor, so you add a little of this and a little that until its as tasty as can be. 

Its funny how a little cold weather kicks one into quilting mode. Sure, I have a few tops in need of quilting, and while I was initially planning to hand quilt them, I’m all about hopping on the machine and putting a quilt to use sooner rather than later. Plus, this 17lb bundle of cuteness gets super cold, and she sure appreciates the extra warmth. If we are watching a movie in the evening, she will sit there and give us the awkward stare until we invite her to get under the quilt with us.

I did a series on my Shift Quilt a few years ago. I like making this quilt because its so quick to put together and it has so many options in terms of color and layout. You can check out those posts HERE. 

I hope this post finds you warm and well. We got our first real snow yesterday but it quickly went away. I think what we were forecasted to get initially got stuck on the other side of the mountains in North Carolina where they are getting hammered with snow. Still, I’m hoping for a white Christmas!

-Meredith