ZING!

     Finally finished with this quilt!  Unfortunately, the snow and wind have arrived, so only inside pictures, which never are as nice as those in the sun.   

     This quilt has been a project for a long while.  I started in February 2016 pulling my red, orange and yellow scraps.  I needed some sunshine during the long winter.  I had some old scrap papers (standard 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper) and cut 1/2 inch off the bottom, making the paper 8 1/2 x 10 1/2.  I then drew lines up the middle, half from bottom left to top right, and half from bottom right to top left.    I wanted to try a string quilt with a rectangle base, versus a square base.  I like string quilts, and have made a scrappy string quilt previously.   

Prior string quilt

      I had loads of scraps to work with for the stringy side of the block, and used plain Kona white for the other half.

Just a sample of the scraps

I like the sharp edge using a paper template gives to the finished block, but I hate pulling out all of those paper pieces. What a mess!  

I then put together four of the blocks to make a bright zingy diamond.

                   

I used 16 of the big diamonds, which resulted in a nice size quilt.  I finished the top in April, but got very busy wrapping up things at work before I retired, and then began my summer and fall travels.  

The finished top

      I started pinning the quilt in October.  For some reason, this is the one aspect of quilting that I don't like and I end up pinning several quilts at once.  I use a craft table and binder clips to keep things taut.

     I decided to quilt this one very heavily, and tried out echoed paisleys on the white space using a really good tutorial from Melissa at Happy Quilting.  The link to the tutorial is here.  I used white Aurifil for these paisleys.   These took some time, but each square was manageable on its own.    This  quilt was on the quilting table (Baby Lock Tiara II) for quite a while! 

Close up of the paisleys

     I did all the paisleys first, then used a orange Aurifil for quilting the diamonds, which I did starting at the middle of each block and just going around the diamond shape over and over again, not paying particular attention to the distance between the lines of quilting or their straightness.    I had lots of threads to hide when I finished the quilt!  

 

      I wish the light was a bit better to show off the final quilting on the top.  It is very dense, and washed up quite nicely.   I now use Color Grabbers when I wash my quilts, especially with the white background.    I highly recommend taking that extra step to save lots of grief! 

 Since this is a scrap quilt, I patched together the backing, and also the binding.

I had sketched out my design for future reference.  

     Here is the finished quilt, on the floor.  It got wrinkled in the dryer!   

   I find that I pull out scrap quilts for my own use.  So, this is a quilt for me, and I expect it will bring lots of sunshine during the upcoming winter.
Enjoy December!  Happy Holidays!  I intend to start the New Year with a cleaned out quilting space, and lots of projects on my list!

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday.
Take care,
Gretchen