The cut up

Georgia has been working on another quilt. She developed a plan for the front of the quilt, and was ready to figure out the back of the quilt.

 The first decision she made was to try a way of aligning the seams when she assembles the quilt. That meant that the front and back of the quilt had to share some seam lines. This gave the back a “cross” shape in the middle, and a “ring” around the edge.

The second decision she made was to try making the pattern look the same from each direction.

The third decision was to try and not buy extra fabric for the back. She pulled out her stash of fabric and started browsing. Georgia found green fabrics that went well enough with each other. What else would work? She decided to try some red, and PRESTO, it turned into Christmas! Looking at her Christmas fabrics, she found two that could be used, one for the center of the cross, the other for the arms. Or, at least so she thought.

The big squares between the cross and ring were large enough that none of Georgia’s stashed fabrics would fit all four squares. Back she went to the drawing board. Maybe those squares could be a repeat of the overall design. Yes, that would work. And, she had enough of the red fabric from the outside corners to repeat for the smaller corners too.

Georgia thought she had enough “roses” fabric to make the arms of the large cross. However, it wouldn’t quite reach. Now what? Well, she had enough of the green from the miniature cross arms to make an extra piece in the larger cross arms. Yes, that would work.

When cutting the “bamboo” fabric Georgia tried to cut all pieces in the same direction on the fabric – each piece would have the bamboo “growing” up past the window of fabric. Since this was the back of a quilt she had to take some measures she normally wouldn’t do on the front. However, it looks okay, and a casual look will not reveal her shortcuts.

Georgia had fun sewing up the pieces this week while we had some workmen doing some repairs on the house for us (more later). The quilt won’t be ready to completely assemble for a while, so she is showing the back now.