CASA Quilt Progress Report

2015 CASA quilt back

The CASA quilt for 2015 is coming along! The Kentucky Log Cabin Quilt is getting close to the finish line.  The back side is done now and the quilt is sandwiched with batting.  Here is how this works:

I love to put something different on the back side of quilts to make it more interesting.  Not always but most often when the quilt is for a good cause.  Last year I created a house like the front only made it 3 or 4 times bigger then started adding borders.  Last year's back side was a happening because I could not find just the right fabric for the back and there was not enough of the perfect fabric for the entire thing.

2014 CASA quilt back

This year I got some fabulous batik backing at the IHQS show here in Bloomington in March thinking that would be good enough.  But all that gorgeous batik was just too plain.  So why not enlarge the house on this quilt and add some log cabin blocks to create the whirling star for the center of the back on the CASA quilt for 2015?  Here it is!  The center block for the back is 60" square.  The quilt itself will finish at about 96" square so this takes up most of the center of the back.  Voila!  The back is another quilt!  I just love it when the math works. And... I got to use some of that fabulous batik!

Like last year, the theme for Monroe County CASA is embroidered in the window on the back - "Safe Homes, Safe Kids."

The front and back of the quilt are completed.  The next step is to sandwich these with some batting and quilt it.  My friend, Bev Lingvai, has a huge Gamill quilting machine.  Yesterday, she and I put the "sandwich" together and basted it on her Gamill. This beauty is now 104" square!  That is a lot of fabric, my friends!  I calculate that there is about 20 yards of fabric in this project.

Meet my George!  George is an APQS long arm quilting machine made to be used sitting down.  Most long arms sewing machines move on a track and the fabric stays in place.  With George, I move the fabric under the needle.  Someone described it as a pencil and paper - the sewing machine needle is the pencil and the paper gets moved under it to "draw" the quilting lines.  Needless to say, it takes a lot of practice and patience!   I am estimating that the quilting will take about 40 hours.  That should give me lots of practice!  And patience.  Maybe.

Every quilt has to have a binding around the edges and should have a label.  The binding for the 2015 CASA Kentucky Log Cabin Quilt will be a piped binding with just a little accent color from the backside to tie it all together.  The label is embroidered and ready, too.

George and I have a lot of work to do to get this beauty ready for ticket sales the end of May.  I truly hope everyone enjoys the Kentucky Log Cabin Quilt.  It has been a joy to create.

More to come.......