Golf Quilt Back Finished

Once I thought I was finished with the main work when I got the center of a quilt finished and threw on a border or two of plain fabric. Then I discovered pieced borders.  Once I thought I was finished when the top was completed, but now I have discovered pieced quilt  backs. (Here is a view of the quilt top in progress.)

Experimenting with designed quilt back

This was my first experience with a designed pieced back.  Oh, I have run out of fabric and thrown rectangles together before, but people in my guilds (local ones and online ones) are experimenting with designing pieced backs. I did need to do something as I didn’t have enough of the golf course fabric for the whole back.

I took some hints from the Craftsy free class, “Creative Quilt Backs,” taught by Elizabeth Hartman. (I can’t make the link go to the specific class; you will have to scroll.) The most important hint was to allow “blank” space in the design for the four inches that the back extends beyond the top. Second most important was to not expect the quilter to be able to place the top precisely, and to allow some leeway.  For example, those two principles explain the long plain gold strip above and below the flying geese. I also used the suggestion from Weeks Ringle’s Designing Modern Quilts to use a quilt back to make the transition from traditional to modern quilt design.

Some people are lucky enough to have blocks left over; other people make larger sized blocks from one of the patterns in their quilt top. I had no extra blocks. I did have left-over fabric. I decided to use two repeating motifs that turned out to be about the right size, then added strips to fill up the left over space. Now that it is finished, it was fun. While I was doing it, I wondred…

[ETA a newer (April 2014) linky party on backs] [ETA a linky party on pieced backs.]

While I was sewing the flying geese to each other, I was using leaders and enders between each seam because it seemed the best way to maintain the order I’d made on the design wall.  And suddenly the leaders and enders took over.  I’d been sewing two square pieces together thinking only enough to join a darker to a lighter one. But as soon as I wanted to add the third I had to start planning the nine-patch part of the block. So I made three blocks, then remembered  the primary project.

Here are the blocks.

Starter set of scrap blocks

I can see I am going to have to solve how to use large prints well and prints with light backgrounds.

The block comes from a tutorial by Michelle Foster–maybe you would like to try it too.

It’s still Friday (at least on Pacific Standard Time).  I’ll be linking with TGIFF; see the link to the side and see what others have finished.

Advertisement