A spring finish!

Here it is! My raffle quilt is complete after a marathon quilting session yesterday.

I totally copied Katy's quilt along sample and quilted horizontal lines with my Pfaff's wavy stitch. I didn't quilt as densely as she did as my thread supply for the bobbin (to match the back of the quilt) was running too low to risk it. This quilt had to be complete for our fund raising event tomorrow night. I managed to spread the quilting evenly with a row along each sashing seam and two rows through each row of squares.

Now I'm trying to decide if I should wash and dry it prior to the event. What do you think? Would the crinkly look appeal to the non-quilting public, or should I keep it crisp-looking? (fellow teammates, Di, Jo, Andrea, Marsha, Rebecca, please advise!).

I always label quilts that leave my home. Admittedly, I'm less reliable on labeling quilts staying with us because I always think 'ahh, I'll do that later'. I once read an article by a quilt appraiser who said it is important to 'quilt the label in' for security (i.e. harder to remove label in the case of *gasp* quilt theft - which does happen, sadly). I often plan to do this, but then the excitement of sandwiching and getting on with the quilting causes my brains to fall out and I forget.

Not this time. Look at me go! I sewed the label to the backing using my machine's blanket stitch and then quilted right through that sucker. I also finished the binding by machine. I love hand stitching my bindings to the back, but 20 minutes vs 4 hours was a no-brainer this time around.

I'm so happy this quilt is done. It's been pieced since mid-November (see, I always stall after the top is pieced!!), so it was about time to quilter-up and finish the job. I am a woman in need of deadlines.

To make your own jelly roll quilt, visit Fat Quarterly and look under 'tutorials'.