this quilt is fly

I sometimes just do not know what to do large scale print fabrics but I am often drawn to them.  I never want to cut up the print but since I don’t really wear bold clothes, it is rare that I find the right project that keeps the whole design intact.  and it was just that dilemma that inspired this whole cloth quilt.  I had one remaining yard of melody miller’s fantastic pixelated fly print that I just had to use.  so, I paired it with a lovely mint voile that is so super soft and silky and made this lap quilt.  

(aren’t I lucky this adorable boy agrees to model for me?  I could just squeeze him looking at that cute face.  and, he is in this phase where he must wear a button down shirt every day…he calls them ‘handsome shirts’.  I loooove it!)

ahem, the quilt.  I have been wanting to practice free motion quilting anyway.  I really am falling in love with free motion quilting.  so far, I have only tried the swirling, whirling around that I believe is called stippling.  I’m sticking with that for a while but I hope to soon move on to other, more advanced styles.

I did experiment a little, as you can see, with making a little flower design. but, my main goal with this quilt was just to keep the swirls consistent and actually covering all the areas of the quilt and I mostly accomplished that much. wahoo! for me! 
the binding is machine stitched, in part because I was feeling lazy and impatient.  but also because I was encouraged by a quilt-mate (yes, that is a word!) from my quilt guild who convinced me that seeing the binding stitches is a cool look.  and, I will say it gives it a sporty look, which is ok with this quilt but I might not do it on something a little more delicate.  the difference actually reminds me of a blind hem stitch versus a straight hem stitch when it comes to hemming skirts.  one is sporty and the other is more sophisticated, both work at the right time.

there you have it…not a bad use of a yard, huh?  especially when paired with that adorable boy!