Back o' the Quilt

Well, if anyone had told me that I would be finished with the back just two days later I would have said they were crazy.  BUT ITS FINISHED.

So I know what you're thinking, "wow Liz... that's REEALLY red".  Yes, yes it is.  But I'm not afraid of color and, let's not forget this is the back of the quilt, so this will only show when little bits of it peek out, perhaps if it's folded carelessly or turned back.  I could have chosen a dirtier, darker red batik for the back.  It was very boring.  The front is so exciting and the back needed a nice big "Hawaiian" print.  I was actually looking for something that had more blue and green in it as well as red, but apparently this season tropical looking fabrics are not in, or at least not in now.   I love red, it's one of my favorites and the print couldn't be more perfect. 

The back is significantly larger than the front.  At the end of the day I'm not exactly sure where my patchwork strip will land, but I'm thinking around the bottom third.

The patchwork strip is an idea I got from reading my favorite quilting blog.  All of her quilts have interesting backs, nothing too complicated but way more fun than just one big solid.  This is very smart because it uses up some leftover scraps, and it allows you to not have any awkward seams.  The strip came together really fast and its just the slightest nod to the front of the quilt.

The next step is to procure batting and quilt 'er up!  So I know how to procure batting, but I have no idea how to properly quilt something like this.  From some previous projects know how to bind very nicely, but again... that pesky quilting part.  So since I really do not want to sew lines, on the bias or otherwise; I am going to practice doing some curly q's and see if I can't quilt this up myself.   The original goal I set for myself was to have the top of the quilt done by May.  I have the top AND bottom done and it's only March!  It has been five years and i'm not going to rush the quilting.

I could pay someone to do it, but as this seems to be something I enjoy it's high time I learned how.  Eventually there will be another post showing the completed quilt, but it's going to be awhile, already something else had caught my attention, and this project I can actually complete :)