Charm Squares Quilt

Hanging in the sunshine

 This quilt was started on July 19th and the binding and sleeve were finished on Nov 3rd. Most of the fabric is from a charm pack I purchased at a quilt store in Naperville. I had taken two of my computerized Berninas in to be serviced and since it was a bit of a drive to get there and back twice, I treated myself to some fabric and a couple clothing patterns I found in the shop. I used all of the squares from the charm pack, but I wanted the finished quilt size to be a bit larger so I pieced a few blocks from my collection of scraps.

Starting to lay things out on the floor

The sewing was done on my Bernina 830 which was set up in the living room. I moved my ironing board into the living room temporarily as well. Piecing the blocks went smoothly and the finished top sat for a couple weeks until I found a suitable backing. I ended up using a piece of turquoise fabric that needed a small patch in the corner. I had used corner cut-out as a block in the quilt before I realized it would make a perfect backing so I had to patch another corner back in. This quilt is the first one I have done in a long time where I didn't generate more scraps from cutting blocks. I used the entire charm pack, scraps from my collection, and backing I already had. The batting was also pieced together leftovers from other projects.

All of the quilting was done by hand on my my 16" square Q-Snap frame. I traced out a template from one of Todd's pizza boxes for the blocks and then free-handed inside the white rectangles. 

Quilting template

The binding was pieced from the scrap collection, sewn on with the Bernina 1230, and then finished by hand. 

Trimming before finishing the binding

Hand sewing the binding

Pictures were taken on Election Day. The sun was shining and it was in 60's. I was trying to take advantage of daylight for pics since I'm rarely home during the day.

The finished size is 35" X 35"

The blocks and the quilting are all straight lines

One gray corner patched in for the backing

Changed out the wallhanging in the living room