This Finish Was 100 Days in the Making- Share Your Finish for TGIFF!

What can 100 days of quilting get you? This year, my result was a semi-improvisational apple core quilt with an unexpected, sophisticated gradient color scheme.

Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday (TGIFF)

It’s a joy to host this week’s Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday (TGIFF), and I’m genuinely excited to see all of your recently finished quilts! Scroll to the end of this post to see what everyone has been working on, and add your recent quilty finish.

Design and Color Palette

Near the end of 2023, I decided that my annual 100-day project would be an apple core quilt featuring the Pantone color of the year. However, when I made this decision, they had yet to announce what that color would be for this year.

When they announced Peach Fuzz as the color of the year, it gave me pause- I had recently done an orange 100-day project that heavily featured peach. I took this as an additional challenge to seek a palette that allowed me to work with a less expectant gradient.

If you want to know more about the design process for the apple core quilt, I wrote about it here.

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Creating the Apple Core Blocks

I developed each apple core block by improvisationally stitching a rectangle of fabric roughly the size of a block. Then, I used the AccuQuilt Go Me to cut each block.

Using the AccuQuilt ensured that each block was precisely the same size as the others, and the notches on each curve made the blocks easy to put together.

Watching the Layout Develop

I created the rough design for the apple core quilt in AutoCad and did a general color layout in Photoshop. While there was room to adjust the precise color of each block as the gradient developed, this template helped me know where color shifts needed to occur to execute my original vision of the project.

Most of the blocks were created from the center of the quilt outward, which allowed me to establish the overall color aesthetic of the design before moving into the trickier gradients in the upper left and lower right corners.

Here is an overview of how the block design developed:

Assembling the Quilt Top

Sewing the blocks together wasn’t difficult, but it was also slow. I used many pins to align the block intersections and notches, ensuring the finished curves were smooth.

I reduced the bulk at each intersection by nesting and rotating the seam allowances where the block corners aligned.

You can see how I rotate seam allowances here:

Quilting the Apple Core Quilt

When selecting the quilting design, I knew I wanted to emphasize the curves of the blocks and the gradient color scheme. To this end, I used curved horizontal echo quilting and diagonal straight-line quilting. These techniques, especially diagonal quilting, are far more suited to domestic machine quilting. So, I got out the walking foot, selected a few colors of thread that would blend with the color gradient, and started quilting.

The curved lines are spaced approximately one inch apart, and the diagonal lines feature half-inch spacing. The change in line spacing adds an extra layer of interest to the finished quilting design.

Binding the Quilt

A scrappy binding is often a terrific choice for a scrappy quilt, and bias-cut binding is necessary with all these curves. While the quilt top was still on the design wall, I cut sections of bias binding from the fabric palette I pulled for the overall quilt. I assembled the bias strips in a few sections, making it easy to adjust the final lengths in case the quilt became smaller following the quilting process.

The Finished Apple Core Quilt

I finished the 100 Days of Apple Cores Quilt just in time to enter the annual Pantone Quilt Challenge, where it won first place in its category!

Quilt Stats

• Title: 100 Days of Apple Cores
• Size: 52″ x 62″
• Techniques: Machine Piecing, Improv Piecing, 1/8″ Sliver Piecing, AccuQuilt Cutting
• Quilting: Domestic Machine Quilted with a walking foot on a BERNINA 770QE PLUS
• Fabric: Too many fabrics to count with assorted solids and prints
• Batting: Hobbs Tuscany 80/20 Cotton/Wool Blend
• Thread: Pieced and Machine Quilted with 50-weight Aurifil in multiple colors
• Binding: Scrappy bias cut binding to coordinate with the colors of the quilt

Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday (TGIFF) Link-Up

Now that you have seen my recent finish, I can’t wait to see yours! Add a link to your recent finish below, and check out all the other fantastic finishes!