A few weeks ago I grabbed a basket in my sewing room and found a giant baggie of off-white solid scraps stuffed inside. I dumped it out and decided to start sewing them all together. Later in the day my husband asked what I was sewing. When I told him I was sewing all of the off-white scraps together, he asked if I was getting a little OCD. I was just tired of having a bunch of scraps jammed in a bag. I was also dealing with a lot of frustrations from work and the improv piecing was definitely therapeutic. I remember thinking of "white-washed tombs" (again, I was a bit frustrated) as I pieced all these scraps together. I kept working on it off and on, ending up with three strips, two roughly the same thickness and one thinner piece. The white texture also reminded me of some sort of high fashion dress. I have no idea why.
At about this point I started looking around for what I would use as a backing. I found this large patterned piece covered with birds. I like birds.
Deciding on the backing helped me decide how to finish the top. I added two navy strips, a classic pairing that again went with this weird concept floating in my head for this quilt, the textural "high fashion" and the navy, well, every dress I bought (or my parents bought) for Easter for years and years was always navy and white. Not that those dresses were high fashion--it was the eighties. But that tie into Easter also redeemed that whole "white-washed tombs" venom in my brain.
To add a bit more interest and texture, I decided to hand stitch some chunky navy thread along the sides of the navy strips. I finished it off with navy binding--and it's done.
We have had construction sites around our house for at least the past two years, if not longer. And very little rain. Hence a thin layer of dust all over our house, porch, and anything out there. I spent a few minutes dusting this poor bench for these photos. Nothing like a mostly white quilt to make me super paranoid.
Fun to finish up this one that was a bit different than most of my quilts. As the Olympics start, I am thinking of a quick project to put together to do some hand quilting while I watch. I probably should have planned ahead a little better!
At about this point I started looking around for what I would use as a backing. I found this large patterned piece covered with birds. I like birds.
Deciding on the backing helped me decide how to finish the top. I added two navy strips, a classic pairing that again went with this weird concept floating in my head for this quilt, the textural "high fashion" and the navy, well, every dress I bought (or my parents bought) for Easter for years and years was always navy and white. Not that those dresses were high fashion--it was the eighties. But that tie into Easter also redeemed that whole "white-washed tombs" venom in my brain.
To add a bit more interest and texture, I decided to hand stitch some chunky navy thread along the sides of the navy strips. I finished it off with navy binding--and it's done.
We have had construction sites around our house for at least the past two years, if not longer. And very little rain. Hence a thin layer of dust all over our house, porch, and anything out there. I spent a few minutes dusting this poor bench for these photos. Nothing like a mostly white quilt to make me super paranoid.
Fun to finish up this one that was a bit different than most of my quilts. As the Olympics start, I am thinking of a quick project to put together to do some hand quilting while I watch. I probably should have planned ahead a little better!
Good for you for turning something 'useless' into something of beauty! Wow. Impressive!
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