Village Quilt Part 2

The quilt top...just about ready for the batting/backing...

There is a whole world out there about batting and backing fabrics and then the quilting itself. D'oh!! Quilting is actually when you sandwich those layers together....oooooh!! Then you have to decide how you are going to stitch them together (there are entire books written on this, I kid you not) I was about ready to give up, there were just too many choices and variables and how was I going to do all that on my basic sewing machine? but then the more I looked at the quilt (top!) I knew I had to finish it, so I did some reading, a LOT of reading, (This fabulous book was a big help!) and consulting, and settled on 'stitch in the ditch' quilting. Which is when you top stitch (quilt) the sandwich together by following the lines where the fabric meets. I started with off white quilting thread, but it was proving distracting when my lines weren't perfectly straight, so I switched to clear plastic mono filament thread, and it was pretty much gravy from then on in. But of course I couldn't have even gotten that far had I not used an even feed foot or 'walking foot' as those in the know call it. A special foot for the sewing machine that helps push the quilt sandwich through evenly. Then, just when I thought the sewing ordeal journey was over, (I kid!!!) there was one more skill I had to learn, which was how to make binding and then sew it on, by hand. All I can say is, THANK YOU, YOUTUBE!!!! Once that was done, I was pretty thrilled with the results. I think I'd love to make another quilt (top) if I could just find someone else to do the rest of it! :-)

"even feed" foot

All Done!!! About 60"x60"

The flipside...you didn't think I forgot, did you?
I went with a solid gray so the stitching design would POP.