Finally, A Patchwork Quilt

I finished my first patchwork quilt! It was on my to-sew list ever since I started quilting. Back in August I pulled out lots of blues, greens and greys. I used some of my treasured prints (that I received for my birthday) and some that were part of the first and only giveaway I ever won online (thank you Lizzy House!).

I cut them up into 5” squares.

And started to lay them out:

It was hard to place the squares randomly without repeating the colours/ hues or the prints. I think it took hours to lay out the squares and stack and label them neatly. When I was sewing them together I mixed them up (in the last 4 rows) and I was too lazy to sort that mess out again. I finished the flimsy at the end of August and it was put aside so I could start sewing christmas gifts.

Last week I took it out again. Pieced a backing. Predried the batting. And started basting while the receipient was doodling with crayons and felt tips. He kept showing off his pieces of art “accidentially” stepping on his future quilt.

(Note to self: Put that sweater away. It is too short for him now – or throw it away if the felt tip ink does not wash out)

Without further ado, here comes my “Hues and Values” Quilt (name inspired by the Value Added Quilt Along that started back in October, when I was already done with my quilt top…):

The pieced backing is made of flannel – super soft and super cozy.

I was at a loss as to how to quilt it. I wanted to sew straight lines with my walking foot but after the disaster of Emma’s Quilt I opted for giant free motion circles instead. One circle per square. I didn’t mark them beforehand and they are far from perfect. But I don’t care, I hope that once the quilt is washed and dried the crinkles will conceal most irregularities.

I love the look of quilting on the back (that’s apparently where I took my inspiration from in the first place (o: )

I used white thread for the top and matching blue thread for the back.

I chose a light grey print for the binding and attached it with my preferred triple zig zag stitch. It is almost invisible on the light grey binding, so here’s another photo where I accidentially stitched a bit too much into the square:

All that’s left to do now is washing and drying. My favourite part.
Oh, and gifting. That’s even better (o:

Have a nice week!!!
Christine