Flip Flops Complete!

I was able to finish my Flip Flops quilt this afternoon.  I still need to hand-sew the binding, but all the quilting is done.

I've been working on this quilt for around two years.  It wasn't difficult, it just took me a long time to finish it.  It's been waiting to be quilted for nearly a year!  I free motion quilted it on my domestic sewing machine.  I did some closely-spaced wavy lines in the yellow blocks, intended to look like sand dunes.  Then I did waves in the blue border, intending to suggest waves crashing on a beach.  It turned out better than I expected since I'm a novice at free motion quilting.  Here's a close-up of one of the blocks.

  You can see the quilting a little easier from the back.

I had this backing fabric in my stash, and I found the pattern later.  I wish I'd had just a little more fabric so that I could have used some on the front.  That would have meant adding a border.  If I'd added the border, the quilt would have been too large for the backing fabric I had left.  I could do one or the other, but not both.  Another alternative would have been to piece the back, but I didn't think about that until it was too late.

I want to say something here about a product that was recommended to me by Sue of Zzyzx & Sue.  They're called "Batt Scooters."  I liked this idea because I have to wear a splint on my wrist when I'm free motion quilting, and to wear the splint and gloves is pretty inconvenient.  This looked like a good idea because I could use them without gloves.

I'm happy to say that they work at least as well as my Machinger's (which I like very much), and they work better for me when I have to wear the splint.  They grip just as well as gloves, but my hands and fingers are uncovered so that the splint is less of a problem.  My fingers are more dexterous without gloves too.  If you don't like wearing gloves, you might prefer these.  On the other hand, if you're happy with your gloves, I wouldn't say they are superior.  I have a special need because of the splint, and so for me, they are a better alternative.

Here's the video demonstration if you're curious, and I've given you the link to her website.

So with that quilt complete, I'm ready to start sewing together the blocks for my Kitten's Tale quilt.  That's next on my list.