I love how it turned out! You wouldn't believe the sorts of nonsense that got quilted - flowers, stars and names, even "Be Happy". The quilted surprises aren't obvious and I hope this quilt creates smiles for years to come.
By the way, the colors above are not what they really look like. Check out an older post to get better view of the colors.
I made this quilt in three long panels, layered and quilted each one, leaving a few inches unquilted on the inner edges that were to be joined. To connect them, I sewed the top layers together and pressed the seam allowances. Next, using a 1/4" seam allowance, I basted the batting together, then trimmed it off using a rotary cutter. Basting kept the layers from shifting and helped to make an accurate cut.
To make a smooth join, I stitched the batting pieces together again, this time with a long zigzag and allowing the needle to pierce the batting on the left pass only. Yep, it didn't sew the batting when it came to the right. This eliminated making a seam allowance - the batting pieces were joined, but flat. From there, I hand-stitched the back panels closed and filled in the blank areas with more doodle quilting. The Bernina had no problems with this. So, maybe I can sew myself a king-size quilt...
Finally, after everything was joined, sealed and quilted, I added the red binding. Yes, the binding is the same fabric as the middle squares. I pressed it in half before sewing it to the quilt.
This was fun. I want to do it again!
