Grandmother’s Fan Quilt Final Thoughts!
Having made the individual blocks, it was time to think of sashing and backing as well as the quilting itself.
I had a rich cranberry fabric that seemed strong enough to stand up to the black fabric as well as act as border and sashing fabric on the quilt face.
I made the simplest and fastest sashing I knew. Each block is surrounded by the cranberry fabric and the entire top by a wider border of that fabric.
I added the same fabric to a square of the black fabric to make a 60 inch square panel.
The I seamed the 2 parched panels right sides together with batting attached and sewed 3 sides together. I then turned the entire thing rought side out, trimmed where needed and hand stitched the fourth side closed.
On to quilting.
For the sashing, I machine quilted a meandering wave . For each fan, I stitched in the ditch to define the individual fan blades. Astute readers will notice that this leaves the backrounds and the larger border unquilted.
I’m unsure what I will do to these. I would like to meander in silver thread , to match the design , but silver thread is not particularly sturdy and Mom does have pets.
I think I will quilt a feather or heart design on the borders, and wait for inspiration for the backrounds.
Lesson Seven You don’t need lots of different fabrics to make something nice- this piece has only 7 fabrics
Lesson Eight A pillowcase style edgeing is fine for a smaller quilt
Lesson Nine A busy and bright quilt top allows for imperfect quilting - it’s a good place to practice new techniques.
Lesson Ten The best quilt is one that’s done.
patchwork, quilt, quilting, grandmother’s fan, pillowcase back, cats,

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