Friday Finish: Rail Fence

Ok let me start by saying...."WOOOHOOO" I finished a quilt.  Now that might not seem like a big accomplishment, since I regularly have a Friday Finish, but I've not been able to show a finished quilt in two weeks.  And to top that it was one heck of a week.  Sunday night I blew a tire and Monday our air conditioner went out.  So this quilt was a challenge, I did most of it while waiting on the repair man, without any air...and let me just say it was HOTTTTTTT.  Alright, enough capital letters, let's talk about this quilt.  I finished the top last year.  The fabric is Look and Learn from American Jane.  If you're new to quilting you might not recognize the fabric because it is from 2007.  That seems so long ago.  Sharla gave me two jelly rolls of the fabric for Christmas in 2007.  I never made a quilt with the jelly rolls, and it was packed away when I was laid off and we stopped quilting.  Last year I found them again and decided that I wanted to do a simple rail fence pattern with them.

Now doing a rail fence with a jelly roll is super easy.  I just did strip sets of four and then cut the strips into 8 1/2 inch blocks.  Once it was pieced it went into the "to be quilted pile" while we saved for the Handiquilter. Once we had the long arm, the problem was what to use for the back and the binding. All but one 8 1/2 inch block when into the top and the line was no longer around to get fabric for the back.  I looked at a couple of other American Jane lines and they had a couple that would work, but nothing that I just loved. Then a couple of weeks ago I decided it was time to pick something out, so I could finish this one.  I went to my LQS and found a 108 inch backing fabric in red.  It isn't the exact red, but close enough, and I didn't have to piece anything.

I didn't want to use the red for the binding since it wasn't a match, so I found a yellow from Bear Essentials 2 in the swirls pattern.  It is close enough to the yellows on the front and frames the back nicely.  Now one piece of advise I will give you, is if you want the back to match the front, buy the fabric at the same time.

I did an all over meander and used Persian Red by Signature for the quilting. I wanted the thread to blend with the back but show up on the front and that is what I got. Some of the fabrics have little boys and girls on it and I tried not to run over the faces of any of them, but alas, one orange haired little boy got his face sewn through...sorry Cole.  But the blonde boys and red headed girls were safes (yeah Trey and Callie).

I tried to take my photos outside, but sometimes the sun is a little bright even in the morning.  But I will say I love how it looks when there is a mix of sun and shade in the photo.  The quilt is large and I think for now it is going on the quilt ladder, but it may just have to reside on my bed when it gets cooler.

I was even able to get a tree shot, not a great one, but still it is nice to see the quilt not just laid flat on the ground.  I wish I could find a pretty tree with a low branch and nice background.  This one is in the parking lot of Sharla's office.

Overall I'm very happy to have a finish, I think the quilting is good (not great but good), and it is nice to put this one onto the quilt ladder.  I have also gotten more done on my Texas Quilt, quadrant one is almost complete.  Hopefully I can show you more of that next week.  Today I'm linking up with Can I Get A Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Link a Finish Friday @ Richard and Tanya Quilts, TGIFF...at Sew Fresh Quilts, Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts, Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation and Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Fort Worth Fabric Studio.