Noah's Ark is in the Frame

 I had originally planned for blue Stars Around the Garden to be the next quilt into the hand quilting frame but the applique is going slow. I do have the stems appliqued on all four corners but no photo to show you.

A year ago I bought a Noah's Ark panel for a crib quilt and added simple borders to make it larger. I had thought I would quilt it on my sewing machine when I was machine quilting last summer but decided not to. I want to use a variety of colored thread, it just wasn't worth the hassle. My machine quilting consists of very simple quilting.

It's in the hand quilting frame ready to start. After taking this picture I noticed I hadn't trimmed the batting off the bottom edge. (I've done that now. I save all the little bits and pieces of batting and stick it in a bag. When the bag is full, I donate to a shop that resells the batting for stuffing.)

I don't use a large backing like some hand quilters so but on this quilt it's even less. I had a perfect fabric fort he back and didn't want to have to make it larger so I trimmed the quilt flimsy down a little. I have approximately 1" of backing on each size. I wouldn't do this with a large quilt but it will work fine for a small project.

I don't cut my batting to size but trim it as I roll. There is nothing more frustrating to have cut your batting then have it be too small! Been there, done that.

I will be using #12 weight Sulky thread for quilting thread. The outside border is going to be quilted with the variegated  gray that I have used in several other projects.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching,  Oh Scrap, Show & Tell Monday, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, BOM's Away