I’m one of those people that does not function well with unfinished projects lying around. They really stress me out. Which is why I am SO HAPPY to have finally finished this project that I started last October (and had been thinking about since way before that). That’s a very long time for me to have something lying around in various states of doneness, but now it is finished and I am pretty pleased with it.



This quilt is called “Back to Amsterdam”, and is inspired by the city itself, which I visited on a business trip in 2007. This quilt is entirely of my own design and creation, which in part explains why it has taken me so long to complete. I’m an excessive planner, though I admit it doesn’t always do much good or prevent all the problems I hope it will prevent. The completed quilt is 48″ wide by 65.5″ high.



I opted to do four big stripes of the “brick” fabrics for the back. I really needed something a bit calmer than all the bustle that is on the front. The label is on the bottom right corner in the same color fabric so as not to be distracting.

This was my first time doing machine applique, and I found it pretty fun, though next time I will definitely use a bit wider stitch. I’m a bit nervous about how secure these are (or aren’t, as the case may be), but they all held up for the first washing, so, so far so good!



In the end, I couldn’t bear to do an all-over quilting pattern or anything that cut into the appliqued gables. I thought it would be distracting from all the hard work I’d done! So, I started with ditch stitching around all the blocks and the major seams.



I opted to do free motion concentric squares (or rectangles) inside each of the little windows. This kept me from having to do a lot of crazy manipulations with the bulk of the quilt. I left the “doors” unquilted to make them stand out a bit more.



The brick, the gables, and the “sky” have been left unquilted. For the sashing between the rows of houses I used one of the curvy quilting stitches on my machine. I love this — it reminds me of the canals on which most of these houses are situated in real life.



The border quilting is a two-inch grid on point. More reinforcement here of how much I was bored by grid quilting. Definitely off my list for a while unless it’s the only thing that will work. Part of my decision making on the quilting had to do with how it was going to look from the back, because it was going to be very obvious on the solid colors. I think it turned out pretty well!

To keep it from getting too crazy, I bound it in the same color as the border (thanks to my hubby for that suggestion!).

And one last look at the whole thing.

If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy:

1. Back to Amsterdam
2. Building Houses
3. Family Quilts — Simple Squares
4. Hats for Houses
5. Family Quilts — Yellow Cross-Stitch