Friendship Braid Quilt Update

 Well I'm going to write this post about the main project I'm concentrating on right now and probably the most important one. I've set a goal for me to finish this Friendship Braid Quilt in the next week. I had finished piecing the front and back of the quilt a few days ago and really needed to get my butt in gear to baste and quilt the thing! So I purchased a showcase spot on Etsy for my quilt for December 18th, and you better believe I'll have the quilt done by then!

So tonight while catching up on some Law & Order episodes I ironed the two sides and then basted them together with some lightweight natural cotton batting in between. I like to use the lightweight batting, because I live in Texas and its just too hot ten months out of the year for anything heavier!! Since I haven't made any quilts to sell in my Etsy shop yet, I am still creating with myself in mind. Eventually I might branch out into thicker quilts, but for now I'm sticking to the lighter variety. I'd like for my creations to be used all year since I put so much love and effort into them!

Anyway, once I basted by quilt I started taping down lines for me to quilt along. I've decided not to "stitch-in-the-ditch" on this one, because it hasn't turned out as neat as I've wanted it to in the past. Plus, since I'm using a contrasting thread color on this one, I needed it to be perfect. So I've used masking tape to tape along the edges of the braid pieces and am quilting about 1/4" from that tape line. Once I've done the entire quilt in this direction, I will do the same on the lines perpendicular to the ones I've just made. This will make a traditional quilting pattern, but at an interesting angle, at least I'm hoping it will!

Here is a close up picture of my masking tape lines and the quilting I've done!

 And here is the first view of the quilt backing. I took some scrap brown damask print that I had, and added in portions of the leftover braid cutouts. Then I used some white fabric to add a border.

I'm really excited about this quilt, and I'm already really proud of the work I've done on it. The quilting isn't taking me very long, so I have no doubt I'll get it done in the next week in time for my showcase! Look for it soon in my Etsy shop!