Wednesday, May 24, 2023

A Bokeh for a Wedding Anniversary gift

 I finally finished my Bokeh Quilt from when I participated in the Bokeh Quilt Along at Quilting JetGirl in 2021. My husband's brother and his wife celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary on May 12, 2023. Their 2 sons were having a family get together for the event. 

I asked my husband if he wanted me to finish one of my quilt tops for a gift for them. I have over 1/2 dozen quilt tops completed but not quilted. He picked out the Bokeh quilt top because Nanci, my sister-in-law, likes purple. 

I just quilted a crosshatch because that is the fastest for me. Down the road, I really want to learn free-motion quilting but I need to practice on some smaller items first. 



This quilt is laying on our camper bed. The finished size is 60" X 60".


The backing fabric gave me issues. I prewashed the backing and by washing it, it was pulled way off grain. It is a cotton sateen and I think that is part of the problem. While spray-basting, I took the backing off 3 times to try to reposition it. My husband even helped 1 more time. 

When the quilting was done I did not like it at all. It would have been fine for me, but I did not want to give it as a gift.  My husband kept saying to add some "patches". In the end, I did decide to try to cover up the most obvious crooked section. On the below left side, 2 of those "little dots" ended right in the middle of where the binding was. This made the whole thing look messy and crooked. So I covered up the dots with this embroidered panel.

I ended up calling a local quilt shop to see if someone could embroider a quilt label for me. One nice lady agreed to do it for me. I needed it to be about 5" tall and about 20" long. I think it came out fine. It does help to cover up the very obvious bad section. She made me one for each side. This is the right side, this side did not look as crooked. 


The lady at the quilt shop said that really just covering up the left side made the difference.That the rest of the back of the quilt seemed ok to her. Homestly, I am glad to have this quilt done and it has been gifted. I am linking my completed Bokeh quilt to The Little Mushroom Cap Friday Finish.