America, the Quilt

Good things happen when I apply myself.

Dad's quilt is finished! It's 48x60, a small lap size. The blocks are 12".

For fabrics, I used:
kona cotton solids
connecting threads solids
DS quilts picnic
metro living
connecting threads winter fun
connecting threads wrap it up
amy butler lotus
tufted tweets
alexander henry
it's a hoot
sherbet pips
betty dear
+ others

The back is kona red and the binding is kona white. The strip down the middle is mostly connecting threads white with some kona mixed in. of course i ran out of white right at the end. i don't think it's too noticeable. The backing was very much inspired by this flickr favorite.

i used an old flannel sheet for batting so it's a nice lightweight quilt. i tried to free motion, but the sandwich wasn't thick enough and i couldn't lower my FMQ foot anymore. i ended up with tangles of thread nests. so i switched to my tried and true easy method, the serpentine stitch. i also initially tried white in the top and red for the bobbin thread but it looked terrible so i went just with connecting threads essential in red.

white seemed like the only choice for binding. i went back to straight grain binding with the one step method. so much easier than fussing with bias binding. i do really wish i had a decent bias tape maker though.

i love how this quilt turned out. i feared it would be too busy but i wanted to try a quilt without sashing and i think this one was a big success. it makes me want to go on a picnic for some reason. i hope my dad likes it.