Echo Beach - Luxe In Bloom

When I first saw the fabric range Luxe In Bloom, the song "Echo Beach" by Martha and the Muffins popped in my head and stayed in residence until I finished sewing this quilt (or should I call it a blanket? - more on that later).

You know the lyrics right?  Here's a link to the song so you can tap your feet whilst reading the rest of this post.

"On a silent summer evening
The sky's alive with light"

"Building in the distance
Surrealistic sight"

'On Echo Beach 
Waves make the only sound'

'On Echo Beach
There's not a soul around"

I decided on using this plus block tutorial to make the quilt top.  I sashed the blocks with 1" (finished size) strips of Luxe in Bloom and Hanky Linen in birch. 

The echo is reflected in the alternating plus signs of Hanky Linen and Luxe In Bloom.  I must have re-arranged these blocks a zillion times before settling on this layout.  Not sure why I struggled with the layout?  I loved each and every individual block,  but when I put them all together it looked a little "Surrealistic" to me.

To add to the Luxe-ness (sorry) of the quilt I added a Minky blanket backing.  It was a little difficult wrangling with this super stretchy fabric but the result is oh.so.worth.it and I'll definitely be doing it again.

I found this tutorial very helpful when sewing with minky.  I chose this method, as opposed to the traditional method of basting the layers together because I didn't want to bind this quilt.  I wanted the Minky to go right to the edge for extra snuggle factor.  I did investigate binding with the Minky ... but ... have you ever tried it?  I think I vacuumed up half a "mink" experimenting on that.  This stuff falls to pieces.  

There is a lot of fabulous texture happening in the quilt between the silkiness of the Art Gallery Fabrics, the rawness of the Hanky Linen and the super soft Minky back.  

My question to you is ... can I still call this object a quilt if 

- it's top is pieced
- it's not sandwiched in the traditional way and 
- it doesn't have binding?  

Or is there another word for what I have created? ... Blan-quilt? ... Quilt-et?  I suppose if I'm questioning it in the first place then I mustn't think it's a quilt, but I love it all the same!

UPDATE: Here is the link to my Q2 Finish Along List

Quilt Stats
Name:  Echo Beach
Size: 34" x 46"
Materials: Art Gallery Fabrics "Luxe in Bloom" and Hanky Linen "Birch" provided by Craft Project
Backed with Minky.

Serena x

Linking up with:
TGIFF at kindly hosted by Ms Midge today
Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts
Sew Cute Tuesday guest hosted by Ros from Sew Delicious