Friday, April 13, 2018

Suddenly spring finish

And suddenly, it's spring!  Yay! I know it isn't spring for everyone, but heck, I am so thrilled to open the windows and put away the heavy coat and maybe start to think about possibly someday having breakfast on the deck again.  Of course, it's also the time of the year when I pull out the stored spring clothes and say "ugh, why did I save this?" Long story short, I'll be shopping this weekend.

This is also the time of year when the light is weird for taking quilty pictures because the sun is out but the trees don't have leaves yet, so there are strange shadows and lots of over exposure.  But we'll get through it because today I have a finish to show, and darned if I didn't manage to get some decent pictures.  There are a lot of shadows from the quilting texture, but it will be fine! Here's my newly-finished quilt:


This is Misfit Toys. The top was my last finish for 2017, and now it is all finished and is a cuddly quilt!  For those of you seeing it for the first time, this is kind of a "cleanout" quilt-- it's made of orphan blocks, leftovers, a few failed experiments, and a few leftover parts and pieces to fill in some spaces.  All of the sashing and the borders are strings from the string jar.  It was a lot of fun to make and was all done on the fly, with no plan until I put the blocks on the wall and started arranging them.


I am actually amazed at how much I like this quilt.  I never would have expected it, but it's lovely.  I'm surprised that all the blocks and leftovers go together so well.  I'm also surprised that there is so much to look at here.  From a distance the light strings kind of blend together and fade into the background, but up close there is a lot of variety:


It's not just whites and creams!  There are pinks, yellows, greens, pale blues, and a few prints in there, and every time I look at it I find another reminder of a previous quilt.  I don't remember where I used a particular white on white, but the prints bring it back every time.


This quilt has a lot of really pretty texture.  It was quilted by my friend Diane Minkley in a pattern called Popcorn, which works great on this quilt.  (Diane could quilt one for you, too!)  An allover quilting pattern was really the best way to go to tie everything together.


I used some yardage of a Moda print for the backing.  It's not "leftover," like the rest of the materials in the quilt, but I mostly use neutrals for backings and I had this yardage, so I used it.  For the binding, I joined together some shorter pieces from my basket of bindings, pieces that were 60-70 inches long, which isn't really long enough for a quilt of any size.  Put a few of those together, though, and you've got something.  I've been using machine bindings for many things lately, but this time I hand-stitched it to the back, mostly because the evenings have been kind of chilly and it's nice to have a quilt on your lap.


So there we are--another happy finish!  I hope you have had some happy stitching this week, too, and some spring.  It's wonderful to have the warm temperatures back, isn't it?  I understand they'll be going away again next week, but I'm enjoying them now.

Everybody have a good weekend!  I do have to get some clothes, and I'm also planning to do some yard work.  After this week, that will be a chore, but for now I plan to enjoy it.  I've got a new garden fork, and I'm ready to use it!


Sharing at crazymomquilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Finished or Not Friday, and Oh Scrap!

26 comments:

Janice Holton said...

I LOVE THIS! It really did turn out beautifully. And your friend's quilting looks great on it too. It makes me want to make one with all of my orphan blocks! I don't think my colors will blend together quite as lovely as yours though. :)

BillieBee (billiemick) said...

Such a wonderful quilt.

Libby in TN said...

A very happy finish! And I love your name for it.

viridian said...

I think the fabrics work well together because they are all you choices and your taste. I have found this to be so with my scrap quilts. Your quilt looks great.

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

your lucky to be able to open your windows at this time of year - here we have so much tree pollen that if you open your window in April and sometimes into early May you have a green pollen dust that blows into your house and you are constantly having to dust as your furniture and floors are covered in a light layer of yellow green dust - I keep the windows shut until it is done and then open them in May

Sarah Aldrich said...

I love it and adore the name!! We woke up to spring w at her hear in CT! Finally!! It's been cold and we had snow flurries earlier in the week. Did spring organizing in the sewing room this morning. Opening windows today - hooray!

piecefulwendy said...

Oh yay! It's Spring somewhere (it sure isn't here)!! So glad you were able to get some outdoor photos of your beautiful quilt. Love to see all the fabrics used, and the quilting is fun. I love that swirly design. Have fun getting your hands dirty and using that new fork!

Bernie Kringel said...

Wow - Mari it is hard to believe this was an unplanned, use-it-up sort of quilt. I love it. It makes me want to pull out my orphan blocks and play with them. I don't think I have enough tho. This looks really nice - love the scrappy binding and the balance you achieved with the placement of your blocks. It is adorable.

PaulaB quilts said...

Such a charming quilt. Can't believe these are orphan blocks. I guess it pays to have somewhat consistent background colors.

JanineMarie said...

Such a lovely finish, Mari, and a great illusrtration of how neutrals don’t have to be limited to beiges and whites. I love that up-close photo. We had one day of spring this week, with temps all the way up to 70! Woohoo! But now we’re back to cold and predictions of possible ice and power outages. So we postponed a visit from the Grands (Boohoo). So there will definitely be more quilts on laps here.

Louise said...

It's fabulous! And as I said on your IG feed, the name is perfect :) Congrats on a sweet, sweet finish!

somethingrosemade14@blogspot.com said...

What a nice finish and I'm sure this quilt brings you a lot of joy when you look at it. I love how these orphan blocks are one bit happy quilt now.

Kate said...

Congrats on a fun finish! I love the quilt name, it's perfect! Enjoy your spring, we are back to winter this weekends with lows just at freezing.

Ivani said...

It is beautiful ! Congratulations

Quiltdivajulie said...

I really, really, really like this one - super finish!!

laughing gas quilts said...

That quilt takes "something from nothing" to a whole new level. It is certainly a nod to the origins of quilting: from scraps, something wonderful appears. And it is FUN! So I'm off to my orphan block box to see what's in there. Thanks for sharing.

Jayne said...

It looks like you planned this quilt from the very start! Every block looks like it belongs exactly where you put them! Love the sashing, love the quilting...It is a huge winner! Have fun doing yard work! I just finished up most of my front yard. Those weeds take over after winter and a bit of warm weather!

Gina said...

THis is a fabulous quilt. I love 'leftover block' quilts. They always seem to turn out really well

Edith said...

This is so pretty, I find it hard to believe it is orphan blocks, I see quilts like this and then look at all my orphan blocks and they just don't seem to go together. Congratulations on a lovely finished project.

Kat Scribner said...

This is just an interesting sampler quilt. It must have been a joy to create.

Cynthia Brunz Designs said...

This sampler quilt is just charming! Great use of all those orphan blocks. Thanks for sharing with Oh Scrap!

marebear said...

What a cute quilt. Love it!

Preeti said...

Splendid Spring Sampler. You may admire my alliteration but your blocks and the lovely quilt are the focus of my admiration :-) I love that there is a "Mommy" Irish chain block and a "Baby" one too. If I was going to eat vegetables straight from the garden, I'd leave the fork alone :-p

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

Great quilt. We have more snow. I'm sick of snow.

Quilter Kathy said...

Congrats on a fabulous scrappy sampler quilt finish! Wow it's awesome!

KaHolly said...

I really like the all over quilting pattern you used. This is a very pretty quilt.