This post is part of the Sparkle Punch Quilt-Along. If you have questions that aren't answered in this post, please check out the others, which are linked on the main page, here.
Read about Mo’s Sparkle Punch quilt here.
At this point, you should have a finished quilt top and quilt back. Use these pieces to sandwich, quilt, and bind your quilt using your favorite method.
The rest of this post will tell you a little more about how I finished mine. I'm going to describe the steps in pretty basic terms. If you need more specific instructions for quilt finishing, I'll refer you to my book The Practical Guide to Patchwork.
Step 1: Make the Quilt Sandwich
I prefer to roll up my quilt top and batting before unrolling it onto a quilt back that has been stretched on the floor. In general, I find that this makes it easier to ensure a completely flat quilt sandwich. (See Pages 32 and 33 of The Practical Guide to Patchwork.)
Using this method is doubly helpful with a quilt back like this one. By rolling up the top and batting from both sides (so the 2 halves of the roll meet in the middle) it was easy for me to place the roll right in the center of my quilt back, lining up the seams on the quilt top with the seams on the quilt back before unrolling the top and batting and pin basting.
Step 2: Quilt as Desired
I machine quilted using a free-motion meandering pattern of zigzags/lightning bolts to mimic the points of the stars. (It's the same way I quilted Mo's quilt, but I really liked the pattern for this piecing design, so I stuck with it for my quilt too.)
Here's an illustration of my quilting design. It's actually very similar to a simple curved meandering stitch, but with points instead of curves.
(See Pages 37 - 39 of The Practical Guide to Patchwork.)
Tip: If you're ever unsure about a new free-motion quilting design, practice drawing it on a piece of printer paper, using a marker and filling in all of the space. Doing this will get you thinking about "where to go next" with the design before you move on to practicing on your machine.
Step 3: Make and Sew the Binding
I made straight-grain binding using 7 strips 2-1/2" x width of fabric. (See Pages 40 - 44 of The Practical Guide to Patchwork.)
Step 4: Share a Photo of Your Finished Quilt!
Thank you all so much for participating in the quilt-along. Please consider sharing a photo of your project in my Flickr Group.
