Creating a Memory Quilt from Ties
Final Installment

Stephanie Novatski © 2008

I added a border of light olive green silk and scattered various colors of silk leaves cut with my die cutting machine. I backed the silk with fusible web before attaching them, and then stitched around them by machine with a button hole stitch. (See the Spring 2008 issue for more details.) People in attendance then wrote on a leaf a word that described Dino to them. This really made the quilt very personal for all who attended and more meaningful for Jeannie.

Here is the process I used to complete the quilt.

Once I sewed the blocks together, I then added a layer of batting. I attached the batting using Allie’s method (which she learned it from Annie Whitsed of Australia.) as featured in the April 2007 issue http://www.cqmagonline.com/vol06iss02/articles/697/index.shtml, though I didn’t use the iron-on interfacing or a false back.

I cut the batting large enough to accommodate the border and made lots of register lines – the seam line of the center blocks, the border outline, the corner block placement.

I then placed the pieced work on the backing fabric.

Selecting the color of the border was a big decision, and I had quite a few options. To see what the quilt would look like, I used some creative photo editing. Here were my options:

Black border with tie print leaves	Blue border	Dark green border (final choice)
Light green border (it was an iridescent silk so looks more blue than green in the picture)		Soft gold border

My choices were the darker green, then the black. Jeannie (the quilt recipient) liked the dark green. I also posted the options on my blog allowing readers to vote, and the green won there, too.

Once the border strips were completed with the leaf appliqués, I attached them by machine sewing through all the layers. This secured the back to the quilt and added the borders in one step. I added the sides first, and then the top and bottom with the corner blocks attached. Once this was done, I hand quilted hearts on the back behind each block, through to the batting. This helped the quilt lay flat and kept the blocks from puffing. I secured each block corner through the back, adding pearl buttons to the back. I also quilted along the block seams from the back through the blocks, but not penetrating the top, so that no stitches show from the front.

To finish the edges, I used Allie’s French edging method CQMagOnline issue Oct 2007, http://www.cqmagonline.com/vol06iss04/articles/745/index.shtml, which gave the quilt a nice crisp edge and was actually easy to do with the silk.

Here is a picture of the completed quilt.

Thanks to all for sharing in this journey with me. I hope you enjoyed it!

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