Dutchman’s Puzzle Finish
This Block Lotto win from February 2017 has been on my WIP list for a very long time. I worked on it immediately, finished the flimsy by the end of May, and sent it off to my long arm quilter along with 5 others. It was the last one in line and she found that my special, super great fabric backing was too small. Not just a little bit either, it lacked 6 inches in width and 15 inches in length. What was I smoking when I prepared that??
Of course, there was only a little bit of the special, super great fabric left over and no more to be had. It took me quite a while to think of a way to enlarge the back enough. My plan involved inserting five 3 inch contrasting color strips across the width, spaced 3″ apart to make the additional length and then, using the leftover backing piece, make and insert a full length of 6″ flying geese to extend the width. Screwing up the courage and actually engineering all that took several more months. Whew. Lesson learned. I’m only buying 108″ backing for all my future quilts for sure.
Anyway, finally it went back to the long-arm quilter to wait its turn again. It has been 
almost 18 months now but here it is:
(Note: There are no pictures of the backing because I can’t stand to look at it any more.)
I love the greens you used for the sashing and borders and those square-in-a-square cornerstones … and is that dark inner border purple? It’s perfect. As for the back, I have one like yours, too. A then-local quilt shop did a really bad and uneven job of cutting some wide-back fabric and then it SHRANK when I pre-washed it, so I have to make it longer and wider (I inserted a few strips and now it looks like an oversized tic-tac-toe game.
Lovely result.
Robin, it’s beautiful! A fresh, modern take on the old classic block. Well done!!
The square-in-square cornerstones really set off the blocks. I piece backs all the time with rows of blocks inserted and/or multiple big pieces of fabric.