One Minute to Show you a Quilt

Really, I have just one minute to post this for you to see (because I'm planning a wedding for my son in just under 3 weeks and there will be 120 people at my house in about a week, and if you have anything that will counteract all the coffee, please feel free to send it my way, and I still wanted to get this quilt done, and Ellen better read this and appreciate this quilt even more).  I used the Michael Miller fabric collection Going Coastal for my friend, Ellen.  She loves the coast and Ocean City, and she loves to crab.  I pieced the back using extra blocks and fabric from the collection I had left after piecing the top.

When I saw the fabric collection I immediately thought of her, you know how that is.  I do like it when I come across fabric that speaks to me about someone in my life.  I don't always get to the quilt right away, but I will usually purchase the fabric, and that friends, is how several on line shops stay in business.  

I prefer to quilt in the name of the quilt and who it is for, rather than a label on the back.  This is sheer laziness for not wanting to create labels that I have to add after I think I'm all done.  I mean when the binding is on and the quilting is done, you think, YAY I'm done.  But then, oh, wait, I have to add a label now.  Well, I'm done when I'm done.  

I machine stitch down the binding.  This could be considered laziness, but is actually because if I hand sew my hands lock up.  And after having to take a year off ALL SEWING (pure torture) to get my hands in order, I do not hand sew. I know quilters who consider hand sewing down the binding as quilt bonding - me, when I'm done piecing, pinning, making a back, quilting and binding, I've seen enough of this quilt and we are through with the bonding, and I'm ready for the quilt to fly the nest.   

I thought I took more photos, but these are pretty much it.  Ellen's birthday was on 5/7 and this quilt was completed on 5/11 - pretty good for me!  

Some of the blocks were made by my Bee Mates in Sew2Speak and some from a LQG, I had 3 extra that I used in the back.  It's fun to actually get one of these bee quilts put together.  I'm attempting to add more quilting to my quilt blog, and not just piecing.  

My daughter is holding this up, and I was going for one of those 'walking quilt zombie' photos, but she's too short and her arms won't stretch up higher than the quilt.

I think the back turned out pretty good too.  I like using up the fabrics in a collection, because I'm not going to put them together again and then they are scraps that hang around gathering lint, looking at you all fabric scrappy, whining 'why won't you use me, you used all my sisters'.  So, now, gone.  Finito.  And Ellen has Going Coastal on her sofa to cuddle under while she reads or watches TV, all is right in the world.