New favorite? I think maybe!

This quilt came about simply because I wanted to use some of the new Heather Ross Far Far Away fabric for quilting.  Since I didn’t have any specific plan in mind I decided to go for an improv style – cutting strips and pieces for some log cabin-ish blocks. After I made the first two, I really was wondering how they’d go together – my feelings were pretty ‘eh’ on the whole project. Finally I decided to pull in a few solid colors – the orange, mustard, yellow and blue and suddenly it started to have a more cohesive feel.

I used at least one piece of the green unicorn print in each block, as well as one piece of the brown polka dot (well, in all blocks except the very first one I made!) and I think this also helps tie them all together.

The size of each block varied, but I framed them all in white and cut them to 15″ square then sashed it all with white. And I ended up with a pretty big quilt! After washing, it measures about 58″ x 72″.

For the back, I used large pieces of the leftover Far Far Away fabrics, mainly because I was interested in seeing how it would be after quilting and washing, and also because I thought it would be nice to have those super soft fabrics on the back.

(Although I admit that it was quite hard to use such large pieces of this fabric for a backing!)

And I did get one of those cute selvedges incorporated in the backing. Total Heather Ross groupie? Ok, I admit it…

It’s quilted in a random meandering and bound with the blue solid. I think my favorite part may be the colors in this quilt. Perhaps because they’re not my typical go-to colors, and perhaps because I wasn’t loving it initially. Now it’s a new favorite color grouping – one you may see again in the future!

So what can I tell you about these fabrics for quilting? I think they worked really well. I was hesitant about how they’d work with other fabrics since the double gauze is so different than quilting cotton, but especially once it’s quilted, I don’t think you’d immediately notice that it’s a different type of fabric. You’ll notice when you touch it though – the feel of the double gauze is so soft and nice to the touch. The two layers gives it a soft cushy feel which is quite nice in a quilt.

My main problem was that I felt as if it were really delicate, so I tried to be really careful and consequently sewing with it was a slower process. I realize now that it’s really much stronger than I thought, and I don’t think I needed to be so careful.

I didn’t prewash the fabric, and consequently my main concern was that it was going to shrink quite a bit. I even took photos of it before I washed it, just in case there was a problem – that way I would be able to show you a ‘before’ picture! I need not have worried – it washed really well and while the entire quilt did shrink several inches, it wasn’t any more than what I’ve come to expect.

Overall I give it an enthusiastic two thumbs up!

This quilt is now for sale in the shop!