Quilting on a flat bed machine is not for the faint of heart!

With Garden Gate, all the ‘quilting’ is already done on the top square — thanks to Steve Wilson and http://www.Anita-Goodesign.com.  On this quilt, even the batting (Warm & Natural) in already sewn into the individual squares.  The pictures below show the steps I took to begin backing the quilt.  The finished product is not going to be perfect and I accept that in advance, with the prayer that even so, I can do all things through Him who gives me strength!  Phil 4:13.

The quilt is quite heavy so I’m thankful for the walking foot on the Bernina 830 that helps me get somewhat even stitches.

Here is the quilt tag that is sewn on the bottom corner of the backing.  The quilt tag is from a Mini Collection by http://www.Anita-Goodesign.com called Quilt Labels.  There are 20 designs total in the collection.

I used the batik fabric for the backing that matches some strips on the front, using two different colors/designs – simply because I like them.

To Aubrey from Granny with love 2017

Batik sewn in strips for the backing.

Pinning the quilt to the backing – I used at least 80 size 3 basting pins to hold the quilt in place.

It is only necessary to stitch in the ditch around the blocks for this quilt.  I took the pins out as a square was finished.  That helped to see the progress.

Slow and steady — sewing around each square took nine hours!