a breath of fresh air

I finished my low-volume quilt last week. This is such a special one. It's so pretty and delicate without being too fussy.

It's made from scraps and stash. I used Cheryl's Sunday Morning pattern from our book Sunday Morning Quilts.

For the quilting I did a free-form loopy pattern in white thread. Nice and easy.

I think I mentioned before that I was nervous about this whole 'low-volume' approach. I like light fabrics just as much as the next gal, or maybe even more, but working with just light value fabrics intimidated me. Would all the prints work together? Would they mesh? Would it look too chaotic? These were just a few of the questions I had. Thankfully Tara had pieced her own version of this pattern a few weeks before I did. She encouraged me by saying that the quilt could be anything that I wanted it to be. Of course it could be, (right?) but I needed that friendly reminder.

The other thing I struggled with is how big to make the quilt. The blocks are 10" finished...so I finally settled on 70" x 90", which is a large twin size. I knew I was going to love the quilt, so I made it bigger than my default (lap size). My train of thought was bigger=more versatile.

It took me a few days to figure out what to do for the backing. I love the yellow print (Pinafore in butter from Connecting Threads) and considered ordering more, but then I came to my senses and realized that I certainly DO NOT need to buy any more fabric! I ended up using 3 different pieces of small calico-ish prints from my stash.

 I do love a pieced backing...

...and it felt so good to use what I had on hand.

The binding is Circa 1934 by Cosmo Cricket for Moda, which I cut on the bias. I'm pleased with how it finishes off the quilt....just the right punch of color without overpowering the quilt. It's the cherry on top!

I love, love, LOVE this quilt! I'm ready to make another low-volume quilt (or two, or three....).

I had a few questions regarding the term 'low-volume' in previous posts. Low-volume fabrics have predominately white, light or neutral backgrounds. More often than not the prints are graphic and simple. There is a low volume quilt along in progress on flickr, with a lot of eye candy to browse. There is also a link to an article that talks about low-volume more in depth, should you want to check that out.

Happy Monday to you!