this older alexander henry print (circa 2010) of mod flowers in warm, deep pastels is a major fabric crush of mine. once i used it for an apron. scraps of it appeared in the original hst block for my gypsy wife quilt and subsequently in the gypsy child hst quilt. a few years ago when i was going at the hst quilt full throttle, i looked to see if i could find yardage of the print for the backing. i got lucky and found an etsy seller who had used it in her custom-order business for household goods and still had some on hand. it's been patiently waiting on my fabric shelves ever since. getting it out and spreading it down the hall to let the folding wrinkles relax a little before i pressed it made me so happy.
when i'm preparing to use large pieces of yardage, usually for a backing, i tend to spread them out to full length while i'm working my way up to them. this particular weekend i was hoping to back a couple of quilts, so there were several pieces laying about in the afternoon sun as i worked.
although the hst top was the first completed of the grouping, it ended up being the last one i basted together. it was well past midnight by the time i got it done, but i pushed through and saw it to completion. i knew i wouldn't have another chance for a while to do this and had no where to store all the big pieces, so it felt necessary.
this backing might have taken the longest because i decided to do one of my "large strip down one side and pieces along the other" backing, and had to hunt out and cut several pieces of fabric used in the top for the small side pieces. that took quite a while. the results are worth it, so no regrets. i included several selvages in the pieces and was pleased they showed up so well.
why i felt the need to take this crummy night photo of me basting the quilt, i don't know. but there you have it - quilt number two for the night, three for the weekend, is a "samich."
the first quilt i backed of this bunch was "fairytale meadow." after that, i went the easy(ish) route and backed "frosted forest star" because the top was already complete and was sitting on top of the gypsy child, making it more easily accessible. i had a few pieces of yardage i was considering for backing but was still unsatisfied with my picks. that large open-pane white-and-dark green plaid woven was going to be my biggest piece of the backing, but it needed some supporting pieces to round it out. it's not a wideback, so i had to supplement it somehow. the colors in the snowflake fabric went really well with the top except that the background color was a warm, creamy ivory color and this quilt is definitely crisp and cool. it just didn't work. the aqua print matched really well, but there was only half a yard. the ginghams felt woodsy, but the color tones were off. i pulled several more fabrics from stash and finally found the perfect pieces.
this random green from my stash, recently purchased as part of a christmas stashing buy, was just the right color. in that same christmas order i found a pinecone and sprig print that coordinated really well and fit the theme of the quilt. it felt so good to have these finally come together! i decided to do a 3-strip-striped backing, another go-to formation of mine. the strips had to be a lot thicker because of how much space i needed them to take.
because i was piecing the strips to be the length of the back (over 72" long), i decided to flip the outer two fabrics at the seam for a little interest. then i decided to make one more cut and do it again for even more fun in that party-on-the-quilt-back. which i later regretted because it started to feel patchwork-y and this quilt top has a very clean, crisp, modern look to it. ah, well. it's on the back and won't matter much.
"bright forest" took some more thinking and scheming. fortunately, i picked out two of the fabrics in advance in december while working on the top. the ruby star society bears and trees print was basically perfect for the blocky, modern tree top. the colors were just right, too. i have a fat quarter set of the "flurry" line from 2020 that the print comes from, which is how i knew it was just right for my trees. what was wrong was the perfect fabric was out of print, impossible to find in quantity, and too pricey. but i found just enough of it, bit the bullet and paid the cost, knowing i would supplement with something else when the time came. i found less of the "spark" multi-bright snowflake/star print from the same line, which also coordinated really well, but there was enough of it to work into the backing.
the trees for the top were made in pairs, but my 7x7 top used only 49 blocks, so i had one extra tree for the back. i included the tree in a strip with the "spark" print, and sandwiched that in between the bear print and the perfectly colored deep teal green small checked print i found in my stash.
whew! done. and i'm very happy with it. i think this backing levels the whole quilt up a few notches.
this post is all out of order for how i did this batch, but there is one more quilt i backed and basted (the day before these three): fairytale meadow.
the top is composed of orange, green, and low-volume heather ross prints. these were the components i decided to echo on the back. ages ago i knew i wanted the green floral print from the "trixie" line for the backing and got several yards, so i had that covered. for the orange, i had one print in enough yardage to make a strip across the width of the back, so that was an easy decision. same with the strawberry print for the low-volume. this one was probably the easiest to decide on and to put together. i was able to include the fun selvages from two of the prints, which i always like to do.
i think the "trixie" mouse detail is one of my favorites of the bunch.
it was pretty exhausting to get these quilts processed in two days, and my body hurt for a few days after, too. but i'm so glad it's done.
