Sunday, November 16, 2014

Postcard quilt

I was inspired by the Postcard quilt Debbie at A Quilter's Table posted and decided to join the quilt along and make my own version. I used some Tula Pink fabric combined with pink and yellow for brightness. The "backs" of the postcards are made with text fabric and a tiny polka dot for the vertical line.
Keeping to the text theme, the back is from that IKEA duvet cover I have used earlier - amazing how much backing you can get from one duvet cover!

I used a fabric from Sweetwater's "Road 15" for the binding. It has text and little rows of houses and trees. It wasn't until I was hand stitching the binding to the back that I realized that the text was actually addresses - how fitting for a postcard quilt!
I quilted it in loopy horizontal lines, kind of like handwriting (if you use mainly "e"s...). After having the top hanging on my design wall for months, all it took was a few hours at the sewing machine and my little wall quilt was done. Why do I never learn that lesson? - because there's always a new project beckoning, I guess...

Looking through the fence

 
Working steadily along stitch by stitch does get you there in the end it seems. My 2wentythr3e quilt is done at last! I have enjoyed making this quilt immensely and I think one of the reasons I delayed starting in the quilting was that I was afraid I'd ruin it somehow. But better finished than perfect, right? I chose to quilt straight lines with dark grey thread through the gray grid and a swirly clam shell pattern in pink and yellow through the rows of big squares between the lines.
I posted this picture on IG the other day, but find that the colours aren't quite right, so today I brought it outside for another attempt at catching it in true light.
See? Much brighter! That's really what I see when I look at it. And you get the almost 3D effect of the grid on top of the pink/yellow background, don't you? Like looking through a net fence and getting glimpses of a colourful garden.
A bit of wind, and you get to see a glimpse of the back as well. I used a grey Denyse Schmidt print for the main part of the back and added a row of the  remaining pieces of the 2wentythr3e fabric along one side.
I helped the wind out a bit to give you a better idea, but he didn't quite agree, so this is probably the best I can do on a blustery November day. I went with stripes again for the binding - a slightly wider stripe than before, but I think it works so well I might just have to go shopping for more stripy fabric...
So there you have it: "Looking Through the Fence", all done and making me happy just to look at it. It doesn't get much better than that, now, does it?