Friday, June 12, 2020

A Very Colorful Finish

I think for a lot of quilters, the quilting and the sewing on of the binding slows down the completion of a quilt.  Once I get a project to that stage, I see a finish in my sights and I become a bit obsessive about crossing it off my to-do list.


I was able to sneak my colorful string quilt onto my longarm frame between some client quilts this week.  A couple evenings of hand sewing and the binding was also quickly added.  

I think hand sewing a binding is my second favorite step of the process - choosing fabrics is my first!




I really do like the color play on this quilt.  I will be adding it to my Scrappy trunkshow presentation.  I think there is a lot to take away from this humble little string quilt.




One of the design elements on this quilt I enjoy the most are the stop borders made with print fabrics. 
 If I can make it work, I use printed fabrics over solid as much as I can!




I really didn't have any big cuts of fabric in my stash for a backing so I sewed up quite a few pieces to make these two prints works.  I bet there are a bout a dozen seams in this.  
Luckily the fabrics hide them all.




I used a very organic freehand quilting pattern on this one.  It was one of the first patterns I used almost 14 years ago.  For me, it helped me to learn how to fill areas - the shape was easy to adjust.  Once I trained my eye to spatially fill areas quickly, I was able to try harder shapes like feathers.



This quilt actually finished out at about 78" square.  

That is over 6000 square inches of scrappy goodness!


Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!




23 comments:

cityquilter grace said...

i really like this....i like all string quilts but this is a really striking version....

christina said...

I really love this one too! Great work!

Shelina said...

I really love the hand stitching part of the quilting process too, for most quilts. Some of them though I dislike because it means the end of a particularly enjoyable-to-make quilt, or because it was a particularly unenjoyable-to-make quilt and the slow finish feels like it is going really slowly.

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

I really like how it turned out love all the color

Vicki in MN said...

What's not to love about this fun burst of color! I too like to get at the binding as soon as it is off the frame. Well sometimes a few runners might gather before I finish them up but never more than a week's worth. I don't enjoy hand binding and I needed a fast way to finish them up so machine stitching the binding was the way to go for me.

Yvonne from Quilting Jetgirl said...

Scrappy goodness, indeed! Wow, the backing looks like 2 easy seams; it's impressive what the prints can disguise. I think people are really going to love getting a look at this in your Scrappy trunk show presentation.

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

Beautiful finish, Cyndy, and I agree that you should keep this one for your trunk shows. I would love to see this quilt in person! I always have to bind my quilts right away after finishing the quilting - that means I have a finish! (Which I just did last night, soI have a finish to share, too! Just need to take some photos...) Glad you were able to squeeze in the quilting for your scrappy strings in this week!

Linda Swanekamp said...

What a great quilt- even more so because it uses scraps. The colors are making me smile.

Susie H said...

Again, this is a wonderful quilt. I too especially love the patterned border fabrics. I love binding too and yes, it is the quilting that usually puts a quilt in time out at my house. Once I get going, it's usually not too long for the finish!

Cheryll said...

It's gOrgeOus...xox

MissPat said...

This quilt really glows. All made from fabrics some people would throw away. I like to hand sew the binding down, too. It's relaxing.
Pat

Louise said...

There's something about these rings of scrappy color that is intensely appealing. I think it is the lightest pink round in the middle that makes the oranges flame and the turquoises quench. Really, really lovely!

Pamela said...

I really love this one, it is gorgeous!

karenbbsnow said...

Congrats on another gorgeous finish. LOVE the borders, your creativity is so inspiring.

FlourishingPalms said...

I love your string quilt! All those colors are really appealing. If I had strings, I’d start a quilt with similar blocks. However, I turned most of my strings into a braided rug that’s in-progress. You sure get your quilting done quickly when you have a longarm! Well done!

Quilter Kathy said...

Such a terrific scrap quilt! And wonderful finish!
I love binding too and can hardly wait to finish a quilt just so I can enjoy the binding stage!

Christinec said...

I also love these strings. I made one single string block in yellow a very long time ago. I guess I too had other things to get to. I love the scrappyness. On my bucket list!

JudyV54quilts said...

Very pretty! I have a question, how do you stabilize the edge of the string quilt when you longarm it. Do you add a strip of fabric to the edge?

Sharon Kwilter said...

That is a great looking scrap quilt. Enjoy using it.

Mystic Quilter said...

This is such a beautiful quilt, you must be thrilled with the finish!!

Nancy @ Grace and Peace Quilting said...

So colorful and fun, Cynthia!!! I love your use of prints for the stop borders. I can hardly believe there are a dozen seam in the backing--looks like 2 seams to me! Great quilting choice. Beautiful scrap-filled finish!

Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

Great finish!!! so glad you got to sneak it in and work on something of yours - its refreshing right? LOVE this quilt!!!

Jasmine said...

I love this quilt!!! Seeing your string quilts always makes me want to get up and play with scraps.

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