I’m a little later than usual getting this Friday post together, but I have a very good reason. I’ve been . . . quilting!
Earlier this summer, I shared photos of a quilt top I had made during my annual quilting getaway with buddies Joen Wolfrom and Alex Anderson. Here’s how it looked then.
Quilt top (36″ x 54″) made by Darra Williamson
Well, the baby for whom the quilt was destined has arrived (a boy!), and I’ve been busy the past two weeks wrapping up the quilting, binding, and other finishing touches.
For the quilting, I found the perfect shade of lime-green thread, which I used to stitch a simple, overall wavy pattern. While the thread, MasterPiece by Alex Anderson or Superior Threads, is designed for piecing (it’s my personal piecing favorite), I found it worked very nicely for quilting too, both in the needle and in the bobbin.
For the backing, I found a terrific print, designed by the Malka Dubrawsky for Moda.
When it came time for the binding, I was stumped. My original plan was to try the darker gray Cherrywood hand dye that I used in the quilt, with the lime-green Cherrywood as Plan B. Then, upon seeing the finished quilt top, the wonderfully exhuberant Eleanor Levie suggested that I “go wild” with a bright orange binding. I gave it a go, but it was just a wee bit too much. (I thought about scaling back to a bright orange “crumb-catcher” piping, but that wasn’t right either.) Then . . . inspiration! I went back to the original dark gray hand dye, and inserted little bits of colored print here and there to add a some spice.
Here’s the finished quilt, bound, washed (to remove the basting spray I used to secure the layers for quilting), and lacking just the sleeve and label. Yippee!
The finished quilt!
Now for the mystery. When I first showed my quilt top back in June, I mentioned that it was inspired by a quilt I had seen on Pinterest. As I feel very strongly about giving credit when I use or adapt someone else’s idea, I searched in vain to find the source before the post went live, but no luck. Not to be deterred, I continued my sleuthing, and persistance finally paid off: I found both the original design and the designer. The pattern is called Chain Linked, and it’s one of many created by the talented Amy Smart. (You may already be familiar with Amy via her combination website/blog, Diary of a Quilter.)
Here’s the design that inspired my quilt: Chain Linked, by Amy Smart.
So, how about a giveaway? Consider this: When it came time to put the binding on my quilt, I opted for squared, rather than mitered corners. It’s not a technique I use very often, but it seemed just right for this square-centric pattern. Leave a comment telling us whether you typically square or miter your bindings by midnight (PDT) Friday, September 6, and you’ll be “in the pot” to win a copy of Amy’s Chain Linked pattern. I’ll announce the winner in my September 24 post.
That’s it for now. ‘Til next time, happy stitching.
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