Penny Patch - Part 3

So waaaaaaaaay back in March 2014, I said I was going to whip my Penny Patch together in the next 4-5 weeks. Well that didn't happen, but guess what... I finally did it!

To be completely honest, I actually finished it in February 2015 (that's the binding and everything!) but haven't gotten to the bit where I talk about it til now :-).  Still as far as the making of a quilt, that's like 8 months from starting to finishing (ignoring the whole posting bit... :-/)... I've done worse!

Given that most of my fabric was already cut, I honestly don't know what took me so long. That's a lie. I do know. It was that I had Harry bloody Potter taking up my entire design wall and every available flat surface.

I really found with this one that I needed to lay it out to see what it looked like before I sewed. Because the balance of orange to blue to red to grey to white was really quite tricky. And looking at the photos, I'm still not quite sure if I got it right...

But did eventually whip this together and after all the procrastinating it actually only took the weekend to have the top all done. But what inspired this bout of patching? Well, you see my sister was getting married. And no this is not her present. But she told me I could not bring my sewing machine to the week long pre-wedding festivities, so I needed something to hand sew... And while I had not initially planned to hand sew this one (I was going to learn those fancy fmq dogwoods that Rachel suggested) it was the only thing in my current wip pile which would really suit hand quilting.

So during all of the pre-wedding madness, I tucked myself in various corners and stitched away.  I was still social, but because I went with single bed size instead of my original plan to go queen, it was a bit portable.  It came out each afternoon while we had drinks, went away for an hour or two, and then came back out when the board games came out.

It really simple straight white lines. I used the line of the penny blocks to guide me, so the big blocks are intersected.  Essentially a cross hatch.

I know I looked a bit odd sitting in the middle of a family gathering with a quilt, but it was actually really nice to sit with my mum and my nan while I worked on this. There's something really comforting/loving about doing hand sewing with women who are makers. My mum has been dressmaking for my whole life (she actually made my bridesmaid dress for the wedding) and spends many evenings crocheting, and my nan used to do a lot of knitting (unfortunately she no longer has the dexterity to knit).

So all the patching and quilting was actually complete way back in November 2014!! I got 90% done over the week of the wedding and finished off the rest the week after.

Then I delayed doing the binding.  I really struggled to pick just the right fabric.  I found this spotty grey at my local fabric store, and it just felt right.  It goes so nicely with the spotty back (which is a voile so it is soft and silky and wonderful!).

Funny story about doing the binding. I had to go to a conference, and I knew I would be sitting listening to speakers for most of the day, so I took my quilt with me and stitched away. One of the organisers said to me later that she has seen just about everything at conferences- people embroidering, crocheting, all kinds... But never a quilt. Lol.

It's a simple quilt, but with all that lovely text fabric and the beautiful blues everywhere plus those lovely bright oranges and pops of red, I really love it. Not to mention the memories of the family time that is so well connected to this quilt. I can't imagine having this quilt leave my home.

And because it's a proper finish, I've also actually been using it.  It's perfectly snuggly and everytime I tuck under it, it makes me happy, so that's a proper win.  And now I should probably get started on that wedding quilt... 

E xx

P.s. Here's a photo of me, my hubby and my 2 gorgeous nieces at the wedding. I was a bridesmaid, and they were flower girls. Aren't they just the most beautiful little people.