Neutral Prisms

 I am so excited!!!  I just finished sewing the binding on this quilt, taking pictures of it and entering it into the QuiltCon Quilt Show!!!  It has been a whirlwind of sewing around here this week, but I made the deadline!

 Let me tell you about this quilt.  I was inspired to start it quilt as part of the Patchwork Prism Quilt Along hosted by Bianca of Sweet Diesel Designs . The pattern is Anna Marie Horner's Patchwork Prism. A free download of the pattern can be found here.  AMH's quilt features a rainbow of colors, but I decided to see what I could do with neutrals.  Here is the stack I started with in April.  There were a variety of fabric types and weaves so I decided to both prewash (a rarity with me) and use a 1/2 inch seam allowance to allow for any possible fraying.

The  official entry picture!  The quilt measures 53x45 inches.

I was going to start with a dark center and fade to light, but it just didn't look right so I switched it out and went with a light center.

Once the top was finished I decided to experiment with hand quilting - I had never hand quilted a quilt before.  I outlined quilted the shapes with perle cotton.  I wasn't sure about quilting though lots of layers, so I used a layer of muslin as batting.  My husband says it isn't very warm, but I told him that it is a summer quilt finished very early -- not very late.  ;)  I quite enjoyed my very primitive quilting.

Love the tree shadow!

I learned about facing bindings at a Modern Quilt Guild meeting a few months ago and decided to use one on this quilt. A facing binding folds completely to the back of the quilt and is often used in art-type quilts.  Here is a tutorial describing the technique.  I like how it allows the pattern to extend to the very edge of the quilt.

Can I just say, "Yea!!!" one more time?!  :)
Did you entered a quilt in the QuiltCon Show?  Neutral Prisms was entry #539 and Orange Trails was #545, so I know there are a bunch of you out there -- not to mention all of those who are madly sewing bindings and typing up entries before the midnight deadline tonight.  But more importantly are you going?  I am 99% sure that I am and I would love to see bloggy friends for real there.  :)

I am linking up with Finish It Up Friday and At the End of the Hallway.