Piecing the Back for Stitch By Stitch--post 3

Blocks from the parts department

I was considering what fabric to use as a back when Gertie, my inner squirrel, chimed in with, "How about using some blocks from the parts department?" I knew just what blocks were on her mind. I pulled them out and thought, these will work AND in a bag I have more of those fabrics.

Fabrics in the bag

Gertie flicked her tail approving of the direction of the conversation. I found the little bag. Yes, it is yet another SHIB (Squirrels Hiding in Bags)! Unfortunately, there wasn't enough of the fabrics for the back. These fabrics weren't prewashed. I took time to prewash them. The wood print had the year 2003 on the selvage so it has been "bagged" a long time! I bought it for another project that is still unfinished; but that is a SHIB for another day!

The fill in fabrics

To the stash I went. I located two other pieces of fabric. I used the foreground fabric to add my border around "Stitch by Stitch." I'm planning another quilted facing for this project. The fabric in the background will fill in so that the back is the size it needs to be which is about 64 x 44 inches.

This orientation of blocks

I played with different orientations of the blocks until one orientation was Gertie approved. I tried different placements of the background fabric. We, Gertie and I, decided to see how large the piece could become using only the scraps in the bag. The size is 45 x 27 inches. Gertie thinks it would make a great book club quilt for "Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books" by Kristen MIller.  I agree. . .Oh Dear! 

Progress after stitching the pieces in the bag

I ran the idea by my granddaughters that live near me. Miss K suggested that the theme should be "Don't judge a book by its cover." Gertie liked that thought. She thinks there should be some ghost quilting and the title should be, "Beyond the Surface."

It was back to the stash to select another back fabric!!! I had a piece of green that I needed to piece to get it wide enough for Stitch By Stitch. I used most of the remaining chunk of the brown fabric that I pieced the around the edge of the top. Using both selvages, the backing is wide enough for the top.

Pieced back for Stitch By Stitch

I layered and pin basted the project. I'm using 80/20 batting scraps for the batting. I finished the ditch quilting on the Fourth of July. I used a monopoly thread for the ditch quilting.

Pin basting in process

Using thread that matched the fabric, I quilted a lot of straight lines to emphasize the arrow. A detail of the point is shown in the photo.

Quilted lines to emphasize the arrow

I'm using a green thread in the bobbin that blends with the print on the backing. I do plan to use a thread that blends in all the other areas of this project because I want the quilting to reflect texture instead of shouting look at me! 

This was goal number seven on my July list. I may continue working on this project until I finish it. . .and then again. . .maybe not!