Friday - Finished up Leftovers

Another week gone and I have a finish to share.  

This little quilt expresses all I love best about patchwork and quilting.  It is made with the nine- patches and fabrics I had left over from making the Wedding Stars quilt (see this post), a quilt I loved making for two special young people, so my leftover quilt will always have particular meaning for me as a reminder of them and their wonderful wedding day.

It is a double nine patch - who doesn't love a nine-patch, and more of them has to be even better? And I used a number of stash fabrics, which I also love doing, to enlarge and enrich, even the plain teal binding came from stash (I've got a large stash...).  The country colours are easy to live with and the blocks are all extremely scrappy: the only constants are that I have separated the blues and reds, as I did for the original quilt. 

I did take a bit of trouble over the seam allowances to help the blocks lie flat.  Here's a shot of the back of the blocks.  It is a little harder to spin the seam allowances with a nine patch block compared with a four patch, but so worth doing. 

I now pretty much do it as a matter of course whenever it is possible, as it does help to avoid that lumpy bump or ridge on the front of the quilt.  It makes it less likely the needle will jump or drag when you are machine quilting across the blocks too.

The quilt measures  61" x 78". The nine patches are 4 1/2" finished, so the twenty large double nine-patch blocks measure 13 1/2" finished, sashed with 1 1/2" strips and cornerstones.  

The quilt is backed with brushed cotton plaid for extra snuggle appeal. I have kept the quilting fairly minimal, just in the ditch beside the sashing and across the diagonals of the nine-patch blocks, so the quilt is soft and cosy.  I felt an allover crosshatch would be too strong, and I wanted the fabrics to be the stars of this modest quilt.

Have a great weekend and I hope you enjoy your leftovers too!  Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday.