I got this one finished – with a few days to spare, even!

Deciding how to quilt it was a bit of a challenge. I stared at the top for a long time, debating on various ideas. I thought I had it settled with a bit of a meandering design, including a few meandered hearts. In the back of my mind though, I kept thinking about straight lines. I ignored that little voice, going forward with the meandering thinking it would be faster (I really wanted this one to be finished and photographed by Valentine’s Day!). As it turns out, that wasn’t a good idea. I got a corner of the quilt quilted and realized the rounded quilting really didn’t complement this design. So then I spent a couple hours of picking out the quilting – I know that any of you who have had to spend time removing quilting stitches can sympathize!

So then I spent some more time staring at the top. Ultimately I did go with the straight lines, but switched it up a bit by having the lines run a few different directions. And then I varied the spacing of the quilting lines in the various sections. I’m glad I changed my mind, because I do think this quilting suits this quilt better.

Remember my dilemma on backing fabric? Well, I owe a huge thank you (THANK YOU!!) to Holli, who was among the first to comment on that post and was so generous to offer to go to her local Ikea that same day to buy that black and white fabric for me. I so appreciate her generosity and her willingness to go out of her way to make my backing dreams come true! Thanks Holli! (and thank you also to a few other generous blog readers who also offered – you all are so awesome!).

I really love it as the backing for this quilt! Since it wasn’t quite wide enough I pieced together a strip using scraps from the front, and even dug through my sewing trash for a couple of those half blocks to incorporate.

For the binding I went with a dark charcoal. It’s perfect with the backing and provides a nice dark frame for the front. And I’m happy to be snuggling under this quilt this week, though I have a feeling this one will spend more than just February out on the couch!

Happy Valentine’s Day (a day early!)

P.S. I had it in mind that pink and red balloons would make for a great addition to my quilt photo shoot. What I failed to take into account was trying to wrestle said balloons while outside after a snowstorm without extra help! So what’s not pictured here is Max stuck in knee deep snow (and not happy about it!), me chasing down errant balloons, and Morgan trying to toss balloons in the air while wrestling with the quilt (and trying to keep it level, of course!). Ah, the things you sometimes do for a quilt photo!