At last, a finished quilt! It’s been too long for me, and how I missed it. I love the satisfaction of zigzaging the binding on and then spreading the quilt out on the floor to take in the finished effect for the first time.

A deep breath in and a deep exhale. A photoshoot. A cozy quilt.

I custom quilted After the Rain using a few digital quilting patterns intended for borders. It was pretty exciting to find something that suits the half rectangle triangle shape so well!

The quilting is angular, as suits the quilt, but somehow it softens the overall effect. Ever since a reader pointed out the upward sloping low volume triangles, I see the forward motion of this patchwork just as much as the pushing back. I think the quilting I chose reflects that.

Making the quilt back took some time, since I started with the foundation pieced Bird from the Penny Sampler Pattern Club. She’s made in scraps from the quilt top!

I also pieced large scraps of the Birdseed print from After the Rain by Bookhou into playful patchwork for the quilt back. All in all, it makes for a very bird-y quilt back, but I suppose that suits an “After the Rain” quilt, after all.

These fabrics are a mixture of Anna Maria Horner’s Loominous wovens, her One Mile Radiant collection, the After the Rain Bookhou collection and Kaffe Fassett Shot Cottons, all by Freespirit Fabrics.

You might see more of this quilt late fall, when I’m thinking of hosting a quilt-along to go along with the pattern release in my shop and in Simply Modern magazine. Fun, fun!