Finished Fandango Quilt!

This quilt is definitely my favorite one yet!  And it's been a long time coming!

After I finished my first big quilt in April 2011, I decided I needed to make another big quilt.  Something functional that someone could use on their bed.  Unfortunately, I didn't have any siblings getting married anytime soon, and a big bed sized quilt needed a big event.  So I decided to make something for my in-laws, since their 30 year anniversary was coming up.  That's a pretty big event, right?  Besides, my in-laws are pretty much the awesomest people ever and they deserve something special.
And now - two weddings and three babies later, I have finally finished their quilt, and just in the nick of time!

I had found a picture of this quilt block somewhere online - although this was before I had even heard of Pinterest, so I have NO IDEA where the image came from!  If anyone knows who designed this block, let me know and I will credit them.
***EDIT***  I FOUND IT!  This pattern is from the book "Modern Quilt Workshop"  by Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle.

I spent weeks and weeks trying to find the perfect fabric.  The in-laws' bedroom has a lot of blue and white in it and I wanted something pretty but not old fashioned.  I finally settled on this Fandango fabric by Kate Spain.  Hence the creative name of the quilt.

You can read more about the process of creating this quilt HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE. 

I quilted this using a "Quilt-as-you-go" (QAYG) method.  Basically, I divided the quilt into 5 sections, quilted each section, and then attached the sections.  I used a wider sashing than is normal for QAYG, because I wanted the front to look more cohesive.  I think it worked, but the QAYG sashing on the back is really obvious.  Ah well.  I still think this is be best quilting I have ever done!  I never could have done it with the drag of an entire queen size quilt!

I quilted straight lines in all the solid spots, spirals in the border boxes, and I outlined the design of the fabric in the full boxes.  I LOVE how it looks on the back!!

Here you can see my QAYG sashing (where I attached the quilted sections).  I sewed them together by machine on the top and on one side of the back peices, then I packed the quilt with us in the car on our way to our cabin and sewed the sashing down on the back the same way you would sew binding down by hand.  If that doesn't make sense, THIS tutorial matches what I did the closest (I just attached larger sections, rather than individual blocks). 

I added my four extra blocks to the back, as well as a strip of the light fabric, since I didn't have enough of the darker backing.  Hubby thinks it looks funny.  I think it looks modern. :)

Before putting on the binding, I tried out the quilt on our bed to see if it was big enough.  It was pretty big, but I wish it was just a little wider.

This is what happens when you flip it the other way.  Too short.  It was a dilemma.  I had worked so hard on this quilt that I didn't want it to be unable to fulfill its purpose.  Since the quilt was already quilted, I didn't want to try adding another border or anything.  I decided to try adding a wide ruffle to the sides to give it more width.

But then I ended up hating it.  This picture shows the back, because the front was too embarrassing to show.  It was puffy from trying to turn the top of the quilt over the thick seam created by sewing the ruffle on.
Long story short, I bagged the ruffle.  I convinced my husband to admit that the ruffle looked silly anyway.  So instead I have a quilt that just might not be quite wide enough.  Oh well - we'll see what my in-laws decide to do with it. :)

For the binding, I grabbed every scrap of Fandango fabric I had and pieced it together to make a scrappy, yet matching binding.  The only problem was that most of my scraps were just under two inches wide.  So I went ahead and cut them all to a measly 1 3/4 inches (as opposed to my usual comfortable 2 1/2 inches) and sewed them together.  I figured I would just make it work, or else sew the binding on by hand like I did with my twin rainbow quilts.  But then I realized that was absolutely crazy.  So I turned my binding into single fold binding and sewed it all on by machine.  MUCH better than attempting skinny binding, although I hope it holds up!

And there you have it!  This baby is finally finished and living with its new owners!  (Of course, I finished the binding about an hour before I planned to give it to them, so there wasn't much of a chance to get good pictures - hence the funny shadows under the tree.  I know it makes it hard to see, but that's the best I could get...).  Anyway - the in-laws loved it and I got a very sweet thank you card two days later.  I'm so glad they liked it!
Now.  What's next? 

Quilt stats:

Started: July, 2011

Finished: August 4, 2012

Fabrics: Fandango by Kate Spain

Finished size:  91x76 (smaller than expected - by about 5 inches)

Recipient:  Hubby's parents - for their 30 year wedding anniversary on August 5, 2012

Previous posts can be found HERE and HERE and HERE.

I'm pretty proud of this quilt - it's definitely one I would hang "at the end of the hallway" and stare at for awhile if I could.  So I'm going linking up to Kati's link party.

I am also adding this quilt to the Kate Spain Blog Hop linky going on over at Blossom Heart Quilts.  Thanks Alyce!