Easter Table Topper - Part 5

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Hi everyone,

Hope you are having a great weekend.  Here at the instructions to finish your Easter Table Topper...

When we left off it was time to layer the Topper on top of the backing and batting and quilt it.  Just for a second, I'm going to skip ahead and show you some photos of the finished piece so that you can see the details of the quilting. 

I'm not the best quilter but I am working on my skills and the Bernina Stitch Regulator helps a lot!
You'll notice that I big arcs radianting from the center of the topper behidn the bunny and then filled in the arcs with concentric teardrop shapes.  This helps hide the seams where the Dresdens met and helped focus your eye on the center section as whole.

I also marked off arc areas around the eggs and filled them with stippling.  With all that motion I quilted some straight lines between these areas for contrast.

Okay, back to assembly...  Once you have your Easter Table Topper quilted, you are going to apply facing.  Take a large (at least 29'') square of fabric that is bigger than the size of your Topper and fold it in half both way, pressing lightly, to find the center.  This will be your facing.  Using that center mark, draw a big circle (mine was about 12-1/2'') in the center of the fabric square.  Staystitch on the circle line.  Cut out the center of the circle, using a 1/4'' seam allowance.  Clip the seam allowance right up to the stitching line at 1/4'' intervals.  Press the seam back along the line.  Use steam!  The better your pressing line, the easier it will be to finish.

Layer the facing on top of the Easter Table Topper right sides together, centering the design inside the cut out area.  Pin.

Turn the entire unit over and sew all the way around the piece, through all layers, using a 1/4'' seam allowance and your walking foot.

Trim off extra facing fabric.  Clip the 1/4'' seam allowance every 1/4'', right up to - but not through - the seamline.  Clip through all layers - including the batting!  You might have to clip a little extra at the internal corners where the scallops meet.

I'm clearly am not a free motion expert - note the overlapping stitching in the above photo, but you would be hard pressed to see that on the front side of the project.  Small projects are the perfect oppotunities to practice quilting - it doesn't have to be perfect!

Turn the facing to the back.  Press.  (If it doesn't turn well, you might have to turn it back inside out and clip the seam a few more times.)

Slipstitch the facing to the back of the Table Topper, all the way around your circle.  While doing so feel free to insert a label, if desired.

That's it.  Hope everyone has a happy Easter!

Amanda