The Cloths of Heaven 21: positively purple

I expect you’ve been wondering where I’d got to. There has been a lot of non-‘Cloths of Heaven’ activity recently.

There was an excellent reason for that, as you probably realise by now, but it was time to get back to my main job! But behind the scenes, I’d been quilting the two long and two short side panels. They’re done, a nice simple grid running through the squares on the diagonal. I tested a number of thread colours against all the fabrics of the front and back, and the jade/teal green was the best by miles. The quilting went quickly and pleasantly, just a couple of times when I didn’t check my bobbin before I started a long line, only to discover at the end that I’d got just the first inch stitched and the rest was a long trail of top thread. Grrr… I am loving this QAYG construction method. No aching shoulders and frayed temper from hauling a huge quilt through the narrow throat of my domestic sewing machine.

I’ve been plugging away at the job since finishing the quilting, and both short sides and one long side are now joined, very tidily and invisibly.

I considered using the sewing machine to stitch down the final seam on the back, but it would have left a visible line and instead I’ve hemmed the edge down by hand. There are lots of tutorials out there for a variety of methods of joining the quilted panels, but my favourite is to use a 1″ strip to join the two front edges, leaving a ½ inch wide visible band, and a 1¼ inch strip on the back, with one edge pressed over to give a neat hem which will just cover the stitching line from the front. You can used a 2 inch strip pressed in half instead, but this way I was able to recycle all the edges I’d trimmed off the quilted panels, very economical!

Now, purple. Several of you commented favourably on the purple I’ve used for the backing on the side panels. I agree! So much so that I’ll be using it for the 6 inch outer border too, front and back, as well as the sashing strips that join the side panels to the centre panel. I looked at a number of other options in the same colour range, including one very lovely purple/dark pink batik, but in the end, it was going to be too ‘loud’ in the overall colour scheme, which is not what I wanted for the border. I think fate must have intervened on my behalf, as there was just enough left on the bolt to do the job plus 8 inches to spare… The quilting design for the border is still evolving in my head, but I think I’m getting there.

I really must start churning out more yoyos. I don’t have nearly enough done, not even half.