Seasonal Mash-up

My calendar says it's winter, the temperatures outside say it's spring--trending toward summer (very strange in my part of the world; we had our bedroom window open last night)--and my quilting life has definitely been autumn this week. But that's okay. I've seen a lot of holiday quilting (looking at you, Lorna, and anyone quilting along with you) and summer quilting (at least for where I live--looking at you again, Lorna). Anyway, I have an autumn quilt finish!!

I started this quilt in late August 2015. I pieced it in just a few weeks but then decided to hand quilt it. It became my travel project, taking much longer than it needed to--and in recent weeks, my evening obsession.

I think I've done about 10 posts on this one in addition to some Instagrams. If you'd like to see the posts, click on the Fall Maple Quilt label on the right sidebar. 

This quilt has seen a lot. It's traveled to northern Michigan at least once, maybe two or three times. It's been to daycare at the Grands (for naptime when I didn't fall asleep myself) and on several train trips, one to Colorado. It has a small smudge on the back from one of those train trips and has a tiny repair where I had to patch in a piece of fabric with some fusible web where fabric along a seam started to shred while I was quilting (but with the busy fabric and dense quilting, no one will know it's there except me--and even I have trouble finding it). Most glaring to me is the wonkiness of the quilting in the border. I started out with parallel lines about 1/4 inch apart. By the time I got to the end, the lines were 3/8 inch apart and nowhere near parallel to the edge. But I don't mind. The texture looks fine. And this quilt border represents a triumph for me since I worked on it while I was pretty much incapacitated in other ways with a broken shoulder. 

The best thing I learned making this quilt is that if it's too hard to see what you are doing when you're quilting, you can quilt from the backside instead. I did that on all of the blue parts of the quilt. I was using a variegated blue thread (and often poor lighting in hotels or on the train), and quilting from the back just made more sense. This worked because I had already quilted around the leaves and borders so I could see exactly what needed to be filled in. 

Here are a few close ups, then I'll give you the details. 

Here are the details:
Pattern: From Ruth B. McDowell in her book Piecing Workshop
Technique: Freezer paper piecing, which I learned from Ruth's book, not to be confused with foundation paper piecing
Front Fabrics: All scraps from my stash. 
Batting: Mountain Mist polyester 
Backing: Moda Bella Solids in Feather
Quilting thread: Blue variegated (#570, Little Prince) Treasure Cotton Hand Quilting thread from Superior Threads; other various colors of random hand quilting threads from my stash
Binding: 1/4 inch batik (cut 2 inches wide) from my stash. I usually use 3/8 inch binding, but I didn't want this one to show much. I thought of using colorful scraps, but decided that I wanted the leaves to stay in the spotlight. My quilt edges are often just a bit ripply even though I really try to keep everything straight. This time I measured my binding each time I turned a corner and made sure that it matched the measurement for the length of the quilt side as determined by the diameter through the center of the quilt. I think I did better, and blocking may take out any irregularity that remains. 
Embellishment: 5 ceramic buttons from a collection I bought a few years ago from Sandra Lance, a ceramic artist who was living in Vermont at the time. I love how they blend in with the fabrics but shine like little gems.
Size: 28 1/4 inches by 36 1/2 inches. I don't plan to wash this, so that's the finished size.

I'm looking forward to hanging this quilt next fall. Not that I want that time to come any time soon. I want to enjoy each day until then just as it comes. No wishing time away.

Oh no, I just realized that I have no hand project to work on now. I may need to do something about that. I do have 2 WIPs to finish--my hexies quilt and the ever-with-me Lake Michigan quilt. That lake quilt always gets pushed to the bottom of the WIPs for some reason--maybe it's a confidence problem? It's near the top now. No where else to go! I do have another quilt that's been muddling around in my mind. I suppose I should also call that a WIP because now there are fabric bits scattered all over the guest bed, too. The muddling is not just in my mind anymore. More on that next week. 

Have a lovely weekend, no matter what season or pseudo-season you are in right now in this wonderful seasonal mash-up!

I'm linking up this week with Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social, Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? and Quilting is More Fun Than Housework for Oh Scrap! 

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