Oh, so close

The finish of Kit and Violet's flannel quilt is finally near. The final borders are going on today, but you won't see the quilt until it's all finished. I'm hoping to get it to the long-arm quilter next weekend, and then, at last, to the happy couple.
On the way to the finish line, there were a few bumps in the road. One of those was the backing fabric. This quilt measures about 92x108" -- no small little lap quilt indeed. A quilt this size requires about 9 yards of backing fabric. If you've been to a quilt shop lately, you know that's a tidy little investment, so I opted to shop for a bargain that would still meet my fabric quality standards. My quest took me to Connecting Threads where I found a small floral flannel in what looked like a suitable color to coordinate with the top. I should have trusted the color description, which was mint. Instead I went by price and a hunch that it wouldn't be a bright mint. I was wrong. It was a bright, springy mint. Fresh as toothpaste. Definitely wrong for this quilt. Nine yards of wrong. Even at the bargain sale price, it was still nine yards of a terrible color for this quilt.
Welcome Rit Dye (I find it in the grocery store's detergent aisle). Rit Tan is a miraculous little box of fixing that I've used it on several quilts and fabrics that were just too bright for my purposes. It took two boxes this time, but 9 yards us a lot of fabric.
The original toothpaste-fresh color is obvious in the strip here. The background fabric is the mint flannel after two rounds of Rit Tan. The foreground is the border fabric for the quilt. You'll probably agree the the new subdued mint is a pretty little print that will coordinate nicely with the mood and color of the quilt. I've said it before; I'll say it again: I love Rit!