On The Plus Side {Quilt Top + Quilting}

I had to do a *tiny* bit of finagling and planning to sew this top together because it isn't just a traditional grid, due to the tiny plus blocks surrounding the center five blocks. I first sewed the tiny plus blocks into sections, then sewed the sections of plus blocks to the larger strip blocks and rick rack blocks. From there I was able to sew things into rows, and then sew the rows together. I spent a significant amount of time thinking about how to press my blocks and attempting to have as many interlocking seams as possible and it was well worth the effort for this top.

Since this Island Batik Ambassador challenge is also sponsored by Hobbs batting, I pulled out my box-o-batting from my closet and decided on using some of the *black* batting for this project! I've never used a black batting before, and since my backing fabric is black, I thought this would be the perfect choice. As an Island Batik Ambassador, I am provided with samples of various lines of Island Batik fabrics, Aurifil thread, and Hobbs batting to use and share with you!

For the backing, I decided that I would use the remainder of the black batik solid for my backing on this project, since I am not planning to give this as a baby quilt. I had to do some quilty math to determine how to most efficiently piece the backing -- it has two seams instead of one, but it did actually stretch the fabric further this way.

I am planning to quilt this in a similar fashion to my Meadow quilt -- with various simple fillers from the center out, however, I will be using multiple colors of thread for this project. The only caveat to my (current) plan is that I am going to leave the white areas unquilted.

To start, I used a orangy-red Aurifil thread in the red and orange stripes of the center blocks to quilt simple dense loops.

Tomorrow I'll have the finish of this quilt to show off -- and it might look a little different than you might expect!

Happy Tuesday! Sharing at What I Made!