Sunday, June 13, 2010

Authentic 2x4 finished

I've been away for a few days, and managed to finish my Authentic 2x4 sampler just before I left, but had to wait until today to get a decent photo of it. I see now that I should have taken the time to prep it a bit more because the edges look all wobbly, but they are perfectly straight, actually (she says smugly ...). Never mind, here it is anyway.

I used linen for the binding to keep it simple, because it's the 2x4 patches from the Authentic fabric collection that are the stars here. I cut a 4 1/2" piece of each strip from the Jelly Roll, 40 pieces in all, and used 1" sashing and borders, resulting in a 25 x 26" wall quilt. The quilting is done in straight(ish) horizontal lines. I just let the presser foot follow the seams, and added a parallel line the same width away from that. I chose not to stitch in the ditch, because I never seem to be able to make that look very good, and so to create some sort of rhythm, I decided against stitching a line through the middle of the patches. So I ended up with a pattern of two close lines, a wider space, two close lines and so on. (Very interesting I'm sure...).
I've had this piece of curtain fabric in my stash for ages. When it arrived I realized that the writing was too big for it to work in a quilt and the weave was too loose for a bag. It proved to be just the right thing for the back of this quilt, though, which just goes to show that I've been right to build a large stash, and that no purchases are mistakes, they are just waiting for the right opportunity to make themselves useful ;-) Will that explanation hold up in court, I wonder? Can I go shop for more fabric now? :-D
I will try to find some more of that fine linen, at least, because that had just the right weight to complement the cotton fabrics. Linen I have come across locally has just been too coarse and slippery, I think. Now, if only I could remember where I bought it...

3 comments :

Lisa said...

it's beautiful!

Craft-aholic said...

This is great! I love that Authentic fabric line. This mini really shows off each print. Nice job on the quilting with straight lines, too!

Emma said...

Did you really need to 'prove' that you were right to build a big stash?! The quilt looks great, and that backing is, indeed, perfect!