Hi quilty friends!
I hope that your 2015 is off to a great start! I have a few quilty goals in mind for this year so I hope to add those to a blog post soon.
One goal is to participate in some mini quilt swaps on Instagram. I’m now signed up for 4 this year, and I’ll send the first one out later this week. There is a vibrant quilt community on Instagram, and you can find me there as nwquiltedcat.
The other day as I was driving home from work, some late afternoon sun beams hit Mt. Hood with a striking intensity. The volcano seemed to glow, and I pulled over to take a picture (along with several other people!). Unfortunately, I just had a little point-and-shoot, and the pictures don’t do the scene justice.
Mt. Hood at Evening
I’ve been participating in Bonnie Hunter’s latest mystery called Grand Illusion. She released the final clue last week so I have been working on putting my top together. I went with a smaller quilt center and just a solid aqua border rather than a thin inner yellow border and pieced outer border. I used some of my leftover pieces on the back.
Here’s the quilt flimsy:
Grand Illusion Flimsy
For the backing, I used units that would have gone into the pieced border along with some darker turquoise fabric that I had on hand. While trying to lay it out on the floor, someone jumped on the fabric!
Tiger on Grand Illusion back
After piecing the back, I framed it up on my HQ16 and just quilted an all-over meandering pattern with white Aurifil thread:
Grand Illusion on the HQ16
My Grand Illusion quilt (small version) is now quilted. I need to square it up and bind it. What do you think for binding – aqua or black or something else?
Grand Illusion quilted
You can view other finished Grand Illusion quilts at Bonnie’s link up party here.
Enjoy!
~Jennifer
NW Quilted Cat 
Gorgeous!
Love the aqua border. I have not finished my but just love how yours finished up. I would go with a black binding. Great picture as well even with the point and shoot. No matter what type of camera they never look as beautiful as the real thing!
I like your version with aqua borders–I’d keep the aqua going in the binding. (Mysteries and patterns are for making adaptations on, right?)
I think a black binding would be lovely! Your quilt is very pretty!
I like how the prints you used are subdued and really make the color and pattern pop! I also love the idea of black binding, that should tie it all together nicely. Great job, it’s beautiful!
Since I didn’t get the full reality, the photo of Mt. Hood looks awesome to me. =) I like the finish of aqua on it now, so I say go with aqua. Black will be a harsh STOP! I think Very nice finish.
Your photo of Mt.Hood us amazing! I’m so impressed that your Grand Illusion is finished! A scrappy binding could be fun!
Lovely result! I think either aqua or black would be good for binding.
Beautiful quilt. I would finish it off in aqua with a folded black border.!
What a beautiful quilt! I really love the colors!!
I would go with black to tie all the black waves together and make it look like a framed painting. I enjoy following your projects and Tiger is certainly an important part of the process. In my house, it’s either my Corgis or tuxedo kitties who perform quality control checks.
Great pic of Mt. Hood – that is one gorgeous mountain! I would bind in black with a piping of the hot pink! I like your color combo the best of any Grand Illusions I have seen!
Beautiful mini quilt. Wonder how you determined how much less to cut on fabrics and still come out with a nice size (how much does it measure). I would bind in aqua so that it doesn’t detract from the beautiful center.
Great photo of Mt. Hood.
Beautiful! Like the picture of Mt. Hood