WIP: Owl and Pussycat Completion

This week I quilted the Owl and the Pussycat and was ready to attach the binding. Last week, I'd already cut, joined, folded and pressed my binding out of the solid blue material that came with the kit. The blue was just enough different from the inner border blue however, and seemed a bit overpowering around the outside that I deliberated substituting different binding. I leaned toward echoing the chevron pink insert I'd added and so I went to my stash for a pink that would go. Had I had more of the chevron I would have used that but I found a pink with small and big dots in alternating rows that I had in a fat quarter bundle I'd bought. But a fat quarter would not be enough for the binding. But wait! I had the same fabric in a different fat quarter bundle! I did check out other alternatives before committing to the two size dot pink. Here were other candidates. Clockwise from the top, pink pin dot (too little white with the pink and the pink was not the same as the chevrons), solid blue with kit (too dark and not the same blue as the inner border), uneven dot size blue (a strong possibility) and the two-size dot pink. I went with the two-size dot pink.

Before cutting the strips for the binding, I debated the width and whether I should fussy cut it along the rows of dots. Based on the pattern repeat I could have had skinny binding cut to 2" strips (finished binding would be less than 3/8"), or wider binding cut to 3" strips (1/2" finished seemed too much), or 3" strips trimmed down to 2.25" my preferred width for 3/8" binding (a lot of waste). I made an intentional decision not to fussy cut and not to stick with a width that was a multiple of the fabric repeat. The fabric was not printed 100% in alignment with the grain so fussy cutting would have been challenging. If I did not join strips in the correct orientation, one section would have stood out as different.  Since I was working with fat quarters, my binding section were only about 20" long, not a full fabric width. Having each section be a bit different would look random and not look like there was one error in a planned scheme. The chevron print drifted a bit so I decided to go with a "let the dots fall where they may" philosophy. I prepared and attached the binding last night and hand stitched it this morning. The dots do fluctuate around the outside but I kind of like it that way.

I outlined the animals and the text and had fun adding some swirls in the ship's sail and in the bow of the boat

I straight machine stitched along the edges of the dark blue, printed green, and light blue borders of the fabric panel. I free motion quilted along wavy lines in the stripe-y dotted border and around the shooting stars and their trails.

The backing fabric is waves and the wavy border stitching shows up better there. All of the stitching is in a pale blue. I did not go crazy changing colors like I did on past quilts.

I will initial and date it later today. Its finished size is 34.5" x42". It was sized to fit the available backing material. Basically this week I finished one project but did not start any others. My ongoing projects do seem to be pretty stagnant. I guess they just do not inspire me right now. But I did actually make an appointment to rent time on a longarm machine June 27th to finish off the Grinch quilt (May 22, 2013 post) so that is a bit of progress. And my daughter who also quilts (see Robin Loves Quilting) is coming to visit so I will get her input on assembling the hexagons of the Mask quilt (October 19, 2011 post). Stay tuned.

Completed projects:

1. Owl and Pussycat quilt (started May 28, 21014 post)

Ongoing projects:

1. Chicken quilt - spray basted, awaiting embellishment (April 24, 2014 post)
2. Classic Cars strip quilt (August 3, 2013 post) - need to back, quilt, and bind
3. Grinch quilt (May 22, 2013 post) - all borders added, need to back, quilt, and bind. 
4. Overlapping square wall hanging - awaiting FMQ
5. Mask quilt (October 19, 2011 post) - hidden away awaiting inspiration for arranging hexagons

New projects:

1. None

It's time to link up to this week's Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday.