Too late for Finish it up Friday, my usual linkup, but I did have a finish in February which I thought I should show you now, before I get distracted by something else!
I mentioned that I was very good in January about focusing exclusively on quilting: this virtuous resolution carried over into February in that I layered several more tops in readiness, but I only actually managed to quilt one of them. My excuse is that we had the plumber in, refurbishing our bathroom, which is a different sort of finish for which I cannot take credit.
Yes, it may look familiar to readers of this blog: I made another Jewel Box quilt from old Thimbleberries collections - probably 15-20 years old - and blogged about that one here. Amazed to see it is almost exactly a year ago. How serendipitous: I couldn't have told you if you had asked me when it was, so it's great to have this blog as a record.
As I said in the previous post, I had quite a few blocks left over, as one inevitably does, and once again I trawled through all my tucked away stash fabrics, chopping up anything which looked as though it might fit in with the country palette into 5" or 2 1/2" squares.
This is a great scrapbuster quilt and there are lots of favourite old fabrics so for me it's something of a walk down memory lane. It's also a great one for clearing out odds and ends of neutrals from other projects as variation in the neutrals adds interest. As ever with a scrap quilt, the more different fabrics the better, as it is surprisingly hard to get a layout which doesn't repeat the same fabric in too close proximity. Laying out the blocks satisfactorily always seems to take longer than actually stitching them together!
Don't you think the old patterns are sometimes the best? Quilts like this one are really easy to live with; undemanding and comfortable, they just fit in with family life. No-one minds if something gets spilled on them or they drag on the floor. I guess that's why I keep coming back to this palette of colour and traditional blocks, even though I love the bright fabrics and modern aesthetic too.
At some point during 2017 I must have put the blocks together, and then had a pause till I found a suitable backing fabric in the Cowslip Workshops sale last summer. I love this backing: it is from Moda's Collection for a Cause 'Nurture' line, and it has just the right country look. Also the colour was perfect as it gives the quilt a warm and cosy feeling. So good to get the perfect fabric at a discount - who doesn't love a bargain without the need to compromise on artistic standards?!
I found enough of an old red Thimbleberries fabric (a useful favourite, also used in other quilts) for the binding. Job done! I do love shopping my stash and feeling thrifty: the fact that at some time I had to buy all of the fabric to be able to have a stash to shop is beside the point....
The quilting I did the same as for the first version: crosshatching through the diagonals and then a curving quatrefoil shape in the diamonds. Easy to do with a walking foot and not too many ends to tie in, especially as this large quilt didn't need a border.
Quilt stats: 80" x 88". One hundred and ten 8" blocks set 10 x 11. The blocks are each made up of two 4" HSTs and two 4" four-patches (all measurements are for finished sizes). I think I have now used up all my made blocks with this quilt, though the few fabric leftovers have gone into the makings of another scrappy quilt which still has some way to go... Carry on quilting!
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