Start with the back

Here is my recently finished shoo fly lap quilt! 

I came upon this (above) fabric at Ikea.  (Sitting right next to the ever-so-popular backing fabric--the one with the black written numbers all over it.)  I was drawn to this angular, gemlike flower fabric, which became the inspiration for the colors of the shoo fly blocks.  I pulled a set of fabrics from my stash that I liked with the backing fabric and went to work.  I like how it turned out!  The bonus is that I didn't have to search out a backing fabric to go with an already-finished quilt top, which can be a bit of a puzzle for me.  I call it my shoo fl-ikea quilt!

This start-from-the-back strategy has helped me put together some of my favorite quilts that I have done.  This half square triangle zigzag quilt was done in the same way, where I picked the top fabrics to match the preplanned backing fabric.  I call this one my spring zig quilt.

Also, the pastel colors for this drip drop quilt (which I wrote about in the previous post) were picked specifically to match this fun backing fabric.

linked with Blossom Heart Quilt's Sew Cute Tuesday