Yellow Brick Road Finish!

Hey guys! Did you miss me? I missed you!! 

I spent a week in Idaho visiting my mom. It was lovely to be just the two of us girls (well the four of us if you count the dogs). I really enjoyed it. Until I caught the nasty head cold that's been going around. Ugh. That took me out of commission for a while. 

(I think the dogs were concerned...)

But now I'm back, and guess what?!

Yellow Brick Road is officially finished!!!

I LOVE this quilt. It was started last October during a quilting class, which taught me a lot. I feel like - from beginning to end - this quilt is more technically sound than my previous two. I also found the process to be more enjoyable and less frustrating than the others. I seriously learned so much! 

I have to admit, when my instructor suggested I use minky instead of cotton as backing...I was terrified. I had never sewn with minky. I imagined it to be super slippery, and worried it might get stuck in the feed dogs. 

All my worry was for naught. It was so much easier than I had imagined. 

Seriously. If I can do it, anyone can. 

I did some research first, of course. Fabric.com's blog has some very helpful pointers here. Allison at Cluck Cluck Sew has some tips here as well. As suggested by Allison, I decided to go with a double-sided minky, purchased here during a sale. 

Overall, I think the combination of basting spray, pins, and a walking foot helped a lot. I did have a couple spots where the quilt top felt a bit baggy and bunched while quilting, resulting in some waviness and occasionally small pleats. Also, I found the minky to be a fair amount heavier than quilting cotton, and had to fight more drag while quilting.

I left the batting out of this project, to help with the weight, which I think was good. And the double-sided minky provides a decent amount of "fluff." This quilt doesn't feel too thin or too light, by any means. 

I had some uneven stitches (partially due to the heaviness of the quilt with the minky, and partially due to my malfunctioning walking foot). They were hardly noticeable, so I left them. The small amounts of waviness and pleating that occurred during quilting, has mostly disappeared in the crinkle of the cotton after washing.  

I am really subscribing to the idea that every project is about learning to quilt than learning to use my seam ripper. This quilt is likely full of beginner mistakes, BUT I have decided that, in general, small and non-fatal mistakes stay put. 

So, all in all - I'm really very happy with this quilt! It doesn't hurt that, in a couple months, I'll be mailing it to my sister in North Carolina for her birthday (shh...don't tell her it's a secret...). 

It almost feels like sending her this handmade quilt is the perfect way of sending her a long-distance hug. 

I think Sadie wanted a handmade hug too. 

Or maybe she just wanted to play...

Okay - gotta go! If I don't throw that ball for her soon, she's going to get pretty bossy! 

Quilt stats:
size: 60" x 80"
pattern: Yellow Brick Road
fabric: Modern Meadow and Quilter's Linen in Chartreuse 
backing: double sided minky in navy
quilting: me
binding: Herringbone in Pond 

Linking up to: Crazy Mom Quilts, TGIFF, Link-A-Finish Friday, and A Picture...A Moment.