Trying Something New - The Peek A Boo Quilt

Here is a quilt I finished in June.  I think I began purchasing fabric and cutting it out in April.  This was definately a step out of the box for me.  Not only did I try a new pattern, but I expanded on it and made it my own.  I have another alphabet panel, but I am not sure I'm up for the challenge of this quilt a second time around.

The basis of this quilt was a pattern that I purchased that made only a 12 square quilt. Needless to say, not too long after I purchased the pattern, I found a panel with the alphabet on it, and the creative juices began flowing. I took the basics from the pattern added the panel and together it became a 30 square quilt. I know, I know, the alphabet has only 26 letters, but the panel had four added black and white patterned squares to make all the letters fit into a typical quilt pattern.

Even when it was beginning to come together, it was quite labor intesive and I had a hard time keeping up the motivation to complete it.  My favorite parts of the quilting process are the choosing of fabric, pieceing and the quilting. It's the cutting, and sandwiching that are my least favorite parts.

Here is a swath of all the wild fabrics I used for the prairie points.

Here are completed squares with the prairie points sewn on.

Here is the first row of squares assembled.

A closeup of the first square, closed.

And a closeup of the first couple of squares open. Now you see why it's called a Peek A Boo Quilt.

Finished piecing the top together.

It took  a good portion of a day  to remove the basting stitches from the prairie points.

I chose a border and binding fabric.  It's a bit wild, like the rest of the quilt.

Took the quilt, my choice of border and Baby Girl to the quilt shop and the owner very patiently walked me through matching up the stripes to make the border gorgeous and after I get it sewn on almost all the way, I took it back and she showed me how to miter my corners!

I wasn't sure what my backing fabric was going to be.  I ended up with a bold black and white floral print.  I've decided to use black thread for the quilting both top and bottom.  I think it makes sense since I'm not planning on doing any fancy machine quilting on it.




Here is the finished quilt in my mom's walnut tree. Kind of an artsy pic - at least that's what I was trying for
















Here's a close up of the border and binding. The picture is not really great, it's kind of washed out, sorry.   I absolutely love the wild stripes.  Hard to believe that  I didn't have this fabric when I chose all the prairie point fabrics.

Here's a close up of just a bit of the backing.  It definately makes it a "girly" quilt, but really, when it's flat on the ground, you never see it.

Now I just need to get brave and wash it.  I'm not sure how the prairie points will come out or if I'll need to press it.  I guess time will tell.