Free Wheeling Single Girl Quilt

I'm excited to show you my Free Wheeling Single Girl quilt made for the Sewtopia Virtual Fabric Challenge.  Thank goodness for a two week extension or I would have had to rely solely on the mini Outlined Plus quilt as my entry.

Free Wheeling Single Girl by Paige Alexander

I mentioned my fondness of challenges in my introductory post as part of the 2016 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop hosted by Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl, Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs and Stephanie at Late Night Quilter.

We could add any other Hoffman fabrics to the 5 fat quarters received. I decided to use three different chartreuse fabrics, 2 prints and a solid as the background.  And I added in 2 purples to go with the black and white prints for a pop of color.

Piecing the rings went very well, similar to the first Free Wheeling Single block made in Denyse's class at Sewtopia Atlanta.  Planning the fabric placement for the so-called improv rings was probably the most time consuming part.  I say that only because, I really struggle with improv.

Free Wheeling Single Girl quilt top on the green beans

I had a hard time deciding on what size to cut the borders.  I thought about asymmetrical which several had suggested when i posted a picture on instagram, but decided on 10" borders all the way around because that's what the fabric would allow.

For the quilting, I thought about using the quilting design included in the original Single Girl pattern, but decided to try Denyse's Figure Eight quilting template.  My fellow guild member digitized the design to be able to use with Quilt Path, the computerized quilting software for her APQS Millennium. This the 2nd quilt I've quilted on her longarm and with each quilt I'm learning the ins and outs of loading the quilt on the machine and using Quilt Path.

Free Wheeling Single Girl 'improv' pieced ring and quilting detail

My friend suggested that I round the corners to match the rings and so I did. It was a great idea!  I simply used the inner background template to round the corners.  You also get a peek of the backing fabric, more of the stitches print used in the top.

Rounded corners of the Free Wheeling Single Girl

For the binding, I didn't have enough of the original fat quarters to make the entire binding improv or scrappy. I pieced 5 separate sections of improv and for the rest of the fabric, I used the stitches print in the black colorway which I found at my local quit shop.  In my 12+ years of quilting, I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've rounded the corners on a quilt.  I cut the binding on the bias, even for the scrappy parts, and it went on beautifully.

Improv scrappy binding for Free Wheeling Single Girl

You've got to love a husband who will help photograph your quilts.  A storm was brewing and the wind was gusting so I was glad to have some help.

Photographer's assistant taming the quilt top

Quilt Stats:

• Finished size:  63" x 63"
• Pattern:  Free Wheeling Single Girl by Denyse Schmidt
• Binding: 3/8" double fold bias binding (partially improv) from 2 1/4" strips and sewn down by hand
• Fabrics: Me + You batiks from Hoffman Fabrics
• Thread: Aurifil black for piceing the rings and 5010 beige for assembling blocks; 5022 mustard for quilting
• Quilting design:  Denyse Schmidt Quilts Figure Eight template digitized for computerized quilting
• Batting: 100% Cotton Warm & Natural by the Warm Company
• Completed: June 15, 2016

Usually a name for a quilt comes to me while working on it, but this time nothing!

Any suggestions for a name for my Free Wheeling Single Girl quilt?

Linking up to Finish Up Friday, Whoop Whoop Friday, Ali at Arabesque Sicssors hosting Thank Goodness Its Finished Friday this week, Fabric Frenzy Friday and Show Off Saturday.