More About Purple -

I know this is not the kind of piecing for anyone in a hurry.

It took 3 days for me to get this big purple backing made from my many hunks and chunks that have been stored away, neglected in a bin.

I started combing through the scraps on Saturday Morning, building blocks through Saturday and Sunday and finishing them before dinner time on Sunday evening.
At first the running was between the green bin, and the purple bin - which one needed depleting the most? Because EITHER color would have worked for this backing - the front has everything in it.

Green looked fine - but that purple!  It shined!

You know it's big when I have to move the ironing board out of the way!

Here I've laid the blocks out and am playing with placement.  It's not too bad here.

I did end up moving a few things so that fabrics I liked wouldn't be lost in the margins.

There are some newish ones, and some oldies in here -

And yes, some Frozen princess fabric because it was in the right colorway and now it's used up and gone.

And there is one "Test" block from the border that I sewed in - I made it, and then decided I need to change the size, so the prototype got sewn into the backing.

I'm not usually a seam opener when pressing - except on backings.  Pressing seams open here will help the backing roll up better on the long arm roller bar.

The only place I broke that rule was when joining blocks together because I wanted nested seams to make that butting up of blocks easier.

I pressed row 1 to the right, row 2 to the left, etc.  But the long seams? OPEN OPEN OPEN all the way down because the long seams are going to lay along the roller bar, not wrap around and around it.

As for the patchwork tops? I generally press to nest. And since these blocks are paper-pieced, the seams are all locked in place by other seams so there is no pressing open, and there is no pressing to nest. It is what it is - thence - A LOT of pin matching of points. But it's worth it!

Stay stitching round the outside edge also happened because I don't want those seams popping open and I want to minimize any stretching at the edge of the backing as much as I want on the edge of the quilt top.

Could you, would you give up three days to make a back from scraps instead of running out to buy a wide-back in a hurry?

How would it make you feel to clear some of this stuff out so you have room to bring more in should you wish?

I would much rather purchase fabrics for the front of a quilt, than one big piece of something for the back.

I agree - some quilts NEED a one fabric back, but when going scrappy? Throw your cautions to the wind!

I think I'll be binding in dark purple - but we shall see. There is time to decide on that.  If all goes as planned I'll get this loaded into the long arm and start in on the quilting today.

Thread color?  I'm thinking baby pink again. It crosses through light and dark areas really well.

Well done, mom!

This seams to be Hazel's new favorite spot on the back of my chair.

(And no, I didn't dress to match the quilt backing, but it happens!)

And this also happened yesterday with Flash:

This will happen every day until he accepts me!

It's a battle of wills, Buddy!

It's the last day of my Spring Break.  I'm excited to have Debbie and her Bitter Bees group come for retreat - we are having a Scrappy Mountain Majesties workshop while they are here.

I'm ready to have this house full and bustling again.

What plans do you have for today?

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

Next time someone calls you difficult, stand your ground! 

Just me feeling a bit sassy on Tuesday morning.

Off to to load a quilt - have a great day!