I got the last row of stitching on the Yellow Brick Road this afternoon, and so it now officially counts as a finish as well. The colors are pretty tame by my usual standards, and the free-motion quilting is pretty much gosh-awful. But it has a soft flannel backing, and I hope it will bring someone comfort in spite of its shortcomings.

One thing I did that was new and different with this quilt was I tried a fusible batting. In the end I would say the review is mixed. The quilt feels stiff to me, in spite of its flannel backing. On the other hand, in spite of the fact that this quilt has languished unfinished for several years, the bonding held up pretty well; I did not need to rebaste the borders.


Once that was done, then I was casting about for the next project. I ironed the flannel I had planned for the back of the Disappearing 4-Patch, but when I measured, it wasn't quite large enough. I looked at John Flynn's method of making a backing with a diagonal seam, but that didn't seem to do the trick either. So I'll hunt for a different fabric the next time I'm in Monroe.

Then I got out the Super 9-Patch baby quilts and their prospective flannel backs, and that was the same deal - not quite large enough. So those ended up going back to the table as well. In the end I pulled out a quilt I had basted last summer that was made with blocks from a block swap. It, too, had been intended all along as a charity quilt, so it's time has come. It's all going to be straight-line quilting, mostly in the ditch, so I decided that would be the next project. I seem to be in quilt-it-and-finish-it mode, which is not the worst place to be. In the morning I'll look at thread options and get bobbins wound and all that good stuff.