another quilt done

I made this quilt-top right after Mother passed away. She had me cut these blocks from some fabric samples she had received from one of the ladies she quilted with at the Haysville Library. The fabric looks like they might have been drapery samples made of mostly polyester. So only time will tell how badly it will beard. I had a huge stack of the blocks. Mother wanted them set together randomly, in a very scrappy way. I did one quilt that way with paisley prints and did not like it very well. Too busy! There is no place for the eyes to rest. So, I set matching blocks together in a diamond pattern. I like this look a lot better.

For the borders I used left-over blocks sew together in long strips. Then cut the strips into thirds. The strips were re-sewn together in a random fashion using two strips of white muslin, with mitered corners.

A traditional thickness of polyester batting was used. I used outline quilting in the body of the quilt and for the white muslin strips, then a zigzag in the three strips in the middle of the border. The quilt will fit regular size bed. I am very glad I didn't use a thicker batting nor have a bigger quilt because it was a bear to handle in the machine.

The red and blue materials used for the binding were leftover bindings I found in Mother's stash. I trimmed up the blue piece to match the size of the red piece. The binding was almost the right length. I was only short the length of the piece of gingham. So, I got a piece of gingham worked in, too! (One of my goals is to get all the gingham used up. I have a huge box of the stuff!)

What can I say! The backing has got to be one of the ugliest pieces of fabric in Mother's collection. I grilled my younger sister about where Mother got it. Sis seems to think it came out of a batch of fabric that someone brought into the library for the ladies. No one took it, so Mother did. The fabric was seven yard long and 30 inches wide. I figure it was used for borders. The greenish-blue square in the middle is because I didn't have enough to make a complete back and it matched the lattice like pattern in the brownish fabric. This piece of fabric is a good example of; if you don't know what possessed you to buy it, use it for a backing!

This is a close-up of the backing and quilting. The photos make the backing look pretty good! It fits Sister Suzy's bed, but she doesn't like it. Hubby's happy about that, because he really likes how the top turned out. He says the backing hurts his eyes, so he will keep it right-side-up when he is snuggled under it.

Have a good day!

Judy