Finished Commission Plus Quilt Top

A few weeks ago I posted about starting another commissioned quilt.  This time the quilt was to be a plus quilt inspired by this quilt by Red Red Perfectly Red.  Some of the other requests for the quilt included:

1. Solid black, navy, grey and brown plus signs.
2. Scandinavian prints.
3. Low volume background fabrics, in a variety of neutrals (greys, tans, whites) with some navy prints and maybe some sky blue.
4. Approximately 70" x 75"

Let me tell you, for a simple quilt (in theory) this quilt gave me more trouble than I would like to admit.

Above are the original fabrics I pulled for the background.  I wasn't going to use all of them, I just wanted a range to start from and go from there. I loved this pile of fabric it was like a neutral rainbow to me, but unfortunately sometimes fabric looks great stacked up but nothing like you are envisioning when it actually comes time to use them in a quilt.

Cue sad music and dramatics to husband about ruining the quilt and having to start over.  Luckily being the good husband he is he said I would figure out how to make it work - although all I could think is I don't know where to begin to fix it.  I left it up on my design wall and stared at it until I decided what I didn't like.  I finally realized the tan and/or brown needed to go so I contacted my client and asked if she mind that I get rid of them (luckily she trusts me and said to go for it) so I got out my seam ripper and started taking apart blocks.

Finally it was starting to look so much better so I took a quick picture of it up on my wall and sent it to my client (**fingers crossed**) praying she liked the direction I was now heading.  Thankfully she did and her only request was some sky blue.  At this point I was so happy that I didn't have to start over that I probably would have agreed to about anything - as long as I actually thought it would look good in the quilt. Cue seam ripper again - since the top section was mostly sewn together and I was now adding in sky blue.

I have to say I am glad she suggested adding sky blue.  The quilt needed a little something extra and that blue was exactly it.  It flows with the quilt while giving it that little spark that it needed.

This top has been basted twice - I may have basted it upside down so the backing was running one direction and the top the other (I told you this quilt has been giving me trouble...) and I am heading to the sewing room to start the quilting process! Wish me luck!