First Finally Finish for 2019: Classic Meets Modern QAL Quilt

It should be no surprise that my Classic Meets Modern (CMM) quilt is my first Finally Finish for the new year since the linky party for this wonderful QAL ends on January 15th.  Nothing makes the year go by fast when a block of the month is involved. This was a twelve month QAL which started a year ago last January and the last blocks were made in November. December was the month to sew the blocks/sections together and being the holidays, an extra two weeks was given to post the finished quilt which was very much appreciated.  

I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed participating in the Classic Meets Modern QAL which was hosted by Kelly Young of My Quilt Infatuation.  I can truly say that there wasn't a block I didn't like and definitely there were a lot of blocks I absolutely loved making, some which I've never made before and some of them were old friends.  I love the variety of sizes of each block, from as big as 24" to as small as 6", the patches were incremented in easy sizes, no 3/16" or 5/8", and I was able to die-cut many of the patches.  These blocks were definitely not fast to make: I did have to take time to read the instructions, make sure the patches were orientated to the right direction and yes, my seam ripper was used many times.  Old skills which haven't been used for awhile were revived for this quilt which was a good thing since I tend to make a lot of "easy" quilts. I had to tally the number of patches in this quilt which was surprisingly only around 630; to me I would have bet that the CMM quilt had a thousand pieces.  It also felt like a large quilt but it's only 60" x 72". I am amazed at how well all of the 28 blocks "clicked" together.  Kelly did a wonderful job of designing this quilt-it is clever.  If I had one tip it would be to press all the seams open, which I did not do all of the time and those were the blocks I had a little problem when sewing them to the other blocks. Unlike my usual disposition of once a Block of the Month quilt is finished and I am so over it, I am sorry to say good-bye to this one done.  My CMM quilt will have happy making thoughts and not the shivers which my Gypsy Wife quilt still gives me even after three years. BTW, the Classic Meets Modern pattern is available in Kelly's Etsy Shop (not an affiliate link).

One of the reasons why I wanted to participate in the CMM QAL was that I thought it would be a great pattern to finally use my Zen Chic's Figures stash which was waiting for just the right quilt to come along.  These fabrics were on my 2018 Must Use List. In addition to these fabrics, I used light prints from other Moda lines since I wanted to use a lot of light prints to make the bright colors pop.

As for the machine quilting, I thought straight lines, 1" apart would be just right since I wanted my CMM quilt to be all about the pattern and fabric and really it's the only type of quilting I'm comfortable with doing.  I usually say a prayer before I start machine quilting and I may have done several for this quilt because I really did not want to mess it up after months of working on the blocks.  I'm happy to say my lines were mostly straight and even and maybe there are a few wavy spots but, all in all, I think the quilting does not distract from the wonderfulness of this quilt.  I was going to use a Connecting Thread's light blue but then remember that I had a brand new spool of Aurifil in light gray with blue tones which was perfect.  I'm amazed at how much Aurilfl thread can be wound on a bobbin, (I've been known to fall asleep while waiting for bobbins to fill up) and I only needed four bobbins to do all the quilting and binding.

The binding I ended up using is a navy blue and white diagonal check from Moda's Pedal Pusher by Camille and Jessica Jung which is one of my favorite go-to prints. I think it adds a nice traditional but modern feel to the CMM Quilt.  I thought I was only to use one of the darker blue print from the Figures line but I did not have enough left and maybe it was a good thing since I think it would have distracted from the lightness of the quilt.  When I was sewing the finishing blocks, I was on fabric fumes and these blocks were made with whatever fabric I had enough of remaining.  I could have made a scrappy binding but I'm still a" No-Go" in that department.

And would you believe I made a pieced backing for this quilt being on a fabric diet this year.  I used yardage of a Dear Stella navy blue herringbone print with remains of the Figures fabric.  Pieced backings are and still will be one of my least favorite things to sew and you can probably tell that it is by my lack of imagination on this backing.

This is all which is left of my once mighty Zen Chic's Figures stash.  I do think I can use these to make slab blocks from Kelly Young's Stash Statement Book which is another wonderful technique and I think Kelly may be doing a QAL using this method.  I hope so since I really love this fabric line and I have other fabric lines with the same colors which when combined together will make great slab blocks.

Another photo of my CMM Quilt.  Master Quilt Holder hasn't done this in awhile and was getting tired after only six photos.  Thankfully, the weather co-operated and I was able to take some photos outside.  This is the time of year when taking quilt photos is stressful and my thinking goes into overdrive as to how I can get better photos.  This time it's emptying the living room and turning it into a photo studio.  Maybe I should start reminding Master Quilt Holder that I still want a clothes line in the backyard and after today's photo session, he might be more receptive. 

We're expecting some snow this weekend which makes for some good sewing time and I already have a project lined up.

Happy Sewing!

Linking up with:  My Quilt Infatuation CMM Finale, My Quilt Infatuation, NTT and Cooking Up Quilts, Main Crush Monday