Quilt backing doesn’t have to be boring.
Lots of quilters use leftover fabrics from their stash to piece together a quilt backing. Initially, that was my intention with this pieced backing. I needed to add enough random fabrics to “stretch” the gray Stonehenge backing!
Afterthoughts.
By and large, quilt backing is an afterthought for me. Until now, all of my excitement and energy is focused on the quilt top. My brain can’t handle more decisions while I’m mastering the creation on the front of the quilt! However, when the top is finished, I want to quilt it immediately.
Something’s Brewing
Incidentally, such was the case with Something’s Brewing. This quilt features a huge cauldron that has bubbles and steam simmering over it’s sides. Also, there’s a crooked broomstick and, my favorite, honey buzzard claw feet. Moreover, one focus fabric makes all of these things, plus the binding! That is to say, it is made with both spooky sides of one focus fabric! See How to Use Both Sides for more info!
Various spooky background fabrics.
Furthermore, notice the very VARIED background fabrics in this quilt. This background is made from eleven radically different fabrics, including batik, Stonehenge, glitzy plaid, spiderweb, and more. Moreover, there’s even a fabric with William Shakespeare’s Macbeth! It’s such spooky fun!
Why should the front have all the fun?
Although I had pieced my quilt backings before, it had never dawned on me to “instant bargello” my backing! While searching for a single Halloween print to add to my yardage, I found numerous smaller cuts of very fun fabric.
Instant Bargello to the quilt backing rescue!
Instant Bargello by Susan Kisro is one of my favorite quilting books.
I’ve made several fun and fast quilts using this book as a guide. I decided this technique would allow me to use small pieces of fabric to make a fun quilt backing. I grabbed some scraps and did three little columns of that technique which gave me enough width for the backing. It was fun and fast!
Prairie Point Hanging Method
Even the Prairie Point Hanging Method got a splash of Halloween fun! The two brown ones have tiny candy corn on them. This was some old Debbie Mumm fabric which I’d inherited from my mother-in-law. I love using little bits of her fabric in my quilts.
Label Fun
Finally, when preparing this quilt to hang in Hancock’s of Paducah for AQS Quilt Week, I brewed up another little cauldron for the label. Incidentally, this cauldron was made from the REVERSE!
Have fun with your backs!
To summarize, if you have to make a quilt back, why not make it fun?
Funny your entry is on the backing. I just finished a Kaffe quilt with segment of the front design left over and plan to incorporate them in the backing. My Kaffe fabric is to precious to just put them in a bin and not use them up in the final quilt. 😎
Oh, looking forward to seeing that, Cookie! Love your quilts!