Friday finish - at last!

After an age of not really finishing anything, a FINISH for Finish it up Friday!



And even better, it's a finish of an old UFO.  The blue and yellow pinwheels are bonus HST's from a quilt I made with signature blocks for our vicar, Barbara, when she was leaving our village to take up a post in another parish  - now about 10 years ago!

This is an old photo of the quilt we gave her; it is similar in design to the little purple quilt here but with bigger, (6"), blocks.

Members of the parish wrote messages and signed their names across the calico 'stripe' in the centre of the block using blue permanent ink Pigma pens.  I stabilised the white section with freezer paper on the reverse so that the fabric wouldn't shift when written on.

Blue and yellow together aren't really my colours, and it took me a while to decide what to do with the leftover HST's.  I am pleased with the alternating pinwheels: nice and fresh against the white calico.


The piecing isn't perfect so don't look too closely.  I wanted to avoid the bulk in the centre of the pinwheel,  inevitable even with careful pressing, so I quilted parallel lines 1/4" either side of the seam line.  I felt it needed more, so added a line of stitching in the ditch in between; this gives a pleasing plaid effect on the reverse.













Backing pieced from stash, not quite big enough so it was eked out with more white calico.  Plain navy binding encloses all the scrappiness.

The quilt measures 45" x 60".

















Feels so good to have made something from 'nothing' and to have emptied another plastic bag which had been lurking at the back of the cupboard.  This quilt will be donated to our local Project Linus, and I hope it will give pleasure to someone somewhere.

Also managed to trim my Feathered Star blocks on Wednesday and have got the top together.  This one will take me a while to complete as I plan to handquilt.

The top measures 59" square at this stage - I've just decided that it needs borders, so it's not really finished at all!

The fabric is Floral Trails by Barbara Brackman and Terry Clothier Thompson for Moda and the selvedge says 1999!

Since drafting this post I have added my borders but it's too dark now for a photo.  I will post a picture with borders tomorrow, I hope.

Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts - Amanda Jean has also finished a UFO today for charity - and it wasn't even one of her own!