I finished the Red and White Coin Quilt today. Endurance quilting was completed last night with a sigh of relief, and binding late today after a dash to my local fabric store.
In the end it was a race against fading light with another cool day behind us, although the late winter sunshine provided better than expected lighting conditions for easy picture taking. Photographing white quilts is proving to be a challenge at times!
The finished size of the quilt is 60 inches x 48 inches, and as usual the back of the quilt is also pieced, I did however choose to use green/blue fabrics for the back of the quilt in contrast to the overly red quilt top.
I am pleased with how the quilting turned out on this quilt. Quilting straight lines close together does sound and look easy, however things can go horribly wrong rather quickly. The success of this quilting style depends very much upon good basting technique. Without a well basted quilt sandwich, the lines of stitching can pull the quilt layers up or down unevenly, either at the front or the back, and thus distort and pucker the quilt. My quilts are all basted by taping the backing to the ground and then stabilizing the quilt sandwich using lots of pins.
I also use a walking foot for all straight line quilting and an increased stitch length. This quilt was stitched with a 4.0 stitch length (Bernina), in comparison I use a 2.0 stitch length for patchwork piecing.
To bind the quilt I have used a Kei Honeycomb fabric in black with white polka dots. Many red fabrics were auditioned for the binding, all failed to impress. My final choice of black binding fabric provides a bold frame without detracting from the overall look of the quilt, and does not disappoint.
Rita
