At long last… Peach Dream is complete! Thank you for your patience :-)

When we last got together, I had sandwiched the three layers together: top, batting and backing. The next step was to do the actual quilting. Many people assume that the patchwork top of a quilt is what defines it as a quilt. Not so! The stitch work putting all the layers together is the real quilting process. Some do it by hand, others do it on their sewing machine, while many get fancy designs sewn in using a computerized long-arm quilting machine ($$$). For the sake of the demo, I opted to use my own machine. This is a perfectly acceptable way for the beginner quilter to get the job done. My only recommendation is to get a “walking foot” for your sewing machine. A walking foot helps to evenly pull all the layers through the machine. A sewing machine normally does this using “feed dogs” (love that term!) situated beneath the fabric. But when you have multiple layers of fabric, adding feed dogs on top of the fabric as well (via the addition of the walking foot) ensures a nice smooth flow.

*Swapping out your regular foot for a walking foot helps to pull all the layers of fabric smoothly through the machine.*

Because I have a very simple sewing machine (one of these days, I’ll splurge on something fancy…), my quilting design is simply “Stitch in the Ditch”, which means I’m sewing straight lines in the “ditch” between different fabrics. I did a zig-zag pattern. The amount of actual quilting is up to you, but the more quilting you have, the more interesting the finished product and the less likely you are to have the batting shift between the two outer layers. I went for quick and dirty and then finished up by trimming the edges nicely in advance of applying the binding.

Remember that looooong strip of fabric I pieced together while at the cottage? That’s the binding! I started by pressing it in half lengthwise and then lining up the raw edges with those of the quilt. I machine stitched it in place, keeping in mind that I needed to do some fancy folding at each corner so that I could mitre them. I then flipped the binding to the back and hand-stitched it in place. Of course, there’s nothing stopping you from using your machine here, but using an invisible stitch looks nicer and the entire exercise is strangely soothing…

At least, it was soothing for my feline interns… Calvin made sure that each stitch was completed with care and accuracy. He then thoroughly tested the quilt for the rugged conditions under which it will eventually be utilized. Sigh.

One last thing to do: sign my masterpiece! I like to appliqué a small square of fabric on the back of my quilts with my name, location and date. Done!

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The Finished Product!