Pinwheel Quilt Step Four: Final Steps
This was probably the biggest project I’ve tackled to date (aside from hand quilting a king-sized quilt for my parents…still working on that). It’s also been one of most gratifying projects. Finishing it was almost bittersweet. Almost. It was mostly exciting—but it was so pretty, it was hard to say goodbye!
To finish up this beauty, I had to piece together the quilted blocks. I started with the big center blocks and then put together the smaller pinwheels to go around the outside of that. I pressed the seams open so there wasn’t too much bulky batting gathered in one place.
ProTip here: If you use Warm & Natural or Warm & White batting, your iron won’t melt it. The tutorial I looked at before I started this process said that she had to be careful about melting her batting—polyfil or something like that probably. With cotton batting you don’t have to worry—and I think it’s easier to use with your machine too!
After that I had to put together the backing. I used my parent’s big bed to lay this out so I could use my basting spray again. It’s pretty slick stuff. If you haven’t tried it yet, you need to!
I trimmed the edges so I had enough of the backing to fold it over for the binding. (As always.)
To put the finishing touches on, I did do some ditch stitching to help the whole thing together—some final quilting.
(I also put one of my labels on the back! I’m using a new label maker on Etsy. You should check her out!)
My goal was to get this quilt done before I went to Michigan in July. That didn’t happen. But my aunt and uncle visited Nebraska in August, so I was determined to send it home with them!
Aunt Deb sent me some photos of the quilt in the room…it looks so good! I love her vision for decorating and that she asked me to participate! I love it!
