A Stained Finish!

Thanks to the joy of the rainy bank holiday and sheer determination, I have finished my Stained sooner than expected - woo hoo!

Before I reveal all, I have to warn you that I am so very very very pleased with how this quilt turned out; the sun came out to celebrate and there are lots of photos!

I think I was suffering the same angst a lot of the QAL folks have been having about the actual quilting, but I made the decision a while back to just keep. it. simple.

I used a couple of yards of Klona Tan for the backing, gathered all my random spools of Gutterman white cotton and some awesome orange 28wt Aurifil, and sat at my sewing machine, for what seemed like hours and hours and hours - I lost count at 6 bobbins.

I wanted straight lines, because the quilt top called for it as far as I was concerned, (and I don't successfully do much else!), but I wanted a little wonk.  So that's what I went for...

Pre-wash shots

119 vertical passes later...

I used white thread on the quilt top so as to not take away from the borders, and orange on the back.  In reality I quilted the first central line from the front, following the top to bottom 'lead line', then flipped the quilt and the threads, and worked from the wholecloth back.

If you don't spray baste and have a walking foot, this is probably not the quilting for you!

Did I mention that I love it!?

By complete fluke I had exactly enough Tan left to make the binding, I said I wanted simple; but then I decided to add in a few of the Moroccan Mirage scraps for fun...

So this one definitely needs great big thank yous to all those who made it possible...

Sarah for her awesome pattern - I hope you think I have done it justice!
Annabella and Julie for the wonderful Moroccan Mirage.
Nicky for the perfect Aurifil.
Oh, and I better mention Susan, or she'll gripe that those mega-borders were all her idea; well I suppose they were!
Thank you so much ladies x

It finally measured up at 50"x 64" after washing.  With so much quilting it really has shrunk up wonderfully, and it feels amazing!

It's also my first, and I really hope not last, FAL finish of the quarter!  Start on a high I say x

A Little Bit Stained...

Last night I started piecing my Stained Quilt.

I decided to get the 3 big blocks, the No1s, made first, and they came together brilliantly, albeit that I sashed a couple of wrong edges, so that they had to be swapped over, but in the scale of this million piece quilt, you won't be able to tell!

I only managed to snap these couple of photos in the 5 minutes between work and the school run, and unfortunately they don't do the colours justice.

The girls are in love with my '3 quilts' already, so they are going to be bowled over when its finished!

Sarah you have designed a beauty, thank you x