Corner Block Quilt

I got it finished this weekend ... but not without a couple of challenges!  After posting the pieced top on Flickr, asking for suggestions on thread color, the Flickr quilting community came through with some great ideas ... both for thread color as well as quilting suggestions. 

I had pieced the back last week, and we were off to the cabin this weekend, so I asked my husband to haul the sewing machine out there for me. On Saturday afternoon, after taping the the back to the floor, spread out the batting and then started to pin the top ... it quickly became apparent that the back was about 2" too short. Problem was, I didn't have any extra material out there, other than the navy for the binding.  After some careful measuring, I determined I could give up 2.75" from the binding to use to lengthen the back ... hence the navy stripe across the back.

Then I started quilting, I had decided to try a loopy pattern that Crazy Mom Quilts used (see it here) as recommended by Naptime Quilter.  After 3 starts ... and stops ... all with a lot of seam ripper usage ... I gave up.  I really had some tension issues with my 30-year-old Pfaff this weekend.  I barely made any progress with the loops, but even when I went back to my standard meandering pattern, I had several blocks where the thread broke over 10 times!  After a few choice words and a lot of starts and stops, I did get it quilted, but it was definitely one of my more frustrating quilting experiences.  Set the tension too tight and the thread breaks, set it too loose and the back-side looks like a noose. 

Aside from the frustration, I am really happy with how the quilt came out.  Another one that I designed from scratch and more exciting for me ... one that we're actually going to keep!  I have made approximately 30 quilts since I started 8 months ago ... and this is only the 3rd one that I've kept for us!

Oh ... and the quilting thread ... I used a tan with a green tint.