Design Wall Monday

The last 5 blocks to construct

For the past few years I have been participating in the July Shop Hop in Southern Ontario. The hop includes 15 quilt stores, and at each store you receive (yes they GIVE to you) a little package that contains the pattern and the fabric to make their block. It's like a quilter's version of Halloween with free fabric candy! 

Also at each store you can see 15 unique sampler quilts made from the same blocks for which you have received the patterns and fabrics. You can see the 2018 finished quilts at their website here.

Finishing Kit

Although I had participated for a few years, I had yet to finish one of these quilts, although I love them all. This year I bought the finishing kit from Undercover Quilts in Fergus. I really liked all the neutral fabrics in the kit. But what good is a kit if you don't actually finish the quilt?!?!

Here is my quilt pinned to the design wall. All the 15 shop hop patterns are in the quilt, including 1 paper pieced block and 2 appliquéd butterfly blocks. I added in some teal fabrics here and there for a little sparkle. 
The alternate double 4 patch blocks were fun to sew from the fabrics in the kit, and I laid those blocks out according to the pattern in the finishing kit.

When I realized the deadline for submitting photos of finished quilts to be entered in a draw for a $150 shopping spree, I got busy finishing my quilt. I had my quilt finished, but between some surgery I had, and the terrible weather and driving conditions, I didn't think I'd be able to drive to the store to get a photo taken for the draw. But I did and I'm so happy that an  Undercover Quilts kit sampler is represented in the finished photos. You can see photos of the finished projects here, including mine! 

Here is the backing pinned to the design wall. It was pieced from 3 large scraps found in my sewing area plus leftover border strips. You can actually see the quilt top peeking through the backing. 

I was motivated to finish my quilt before the deadline. I worked really hard, enduring a bit of back and hand pain but it was worth it. I'm in training for my upcoming quilt retreat, which is painful when you sew for 12 hours a day. It's almost like training for a marathon!! 

I did some very simple horizontal, vertical, and diagonal straight line quilting using the walking foot. I quilted large diamonds in the outside border but it seems to need more quilting in that space so I might add more diamonds. But for now it qualifies as done!

Here is an outside photo with granddog Max trying to be the star of the show! He does match the quilt with the neutral colours of his winter coat and his little teal coloured dog collar tag.

Finished size: 61" x 70.75"
Hop over to Small Quilts to see more design wall activities.