2nd quarter finish number 3

This must be one of the oldest UFOs in existence.  It was on every finish along list in 2012, and while I left it off the first quarter list of 2013, I added it back on to my 2nd quarter list of goals.  I finished the quilt top some time in the late 1970s or early 80s.  Then it got lost in one of many moves and resurfaced last year.  It's not a brilliant piece of workmanship, so I was tempted to leave it "lost" but I just couldn't do it.

The large proportion of these fabric scraps came from my ex-husbands grandmother.  When she moved into a seniors facility at the age of 95, she gave me her giant bag of scraps.  I made a lot of things from these scraps, but sadly, very few remain.  They went into soft toys, bibs, place mats, pot holders, rag rugs, and the other assorted items a young mother needs.  I made two other scrap quilts in addition to this top.  The first is a double wedding ring quilt, entirely hand stitched and traditionally quilted in dense tiny stitches.  This was used so much that it is now in tatters.  The second quilt was taken by someone whose need must have been great, so hope that it is serving its purpose of keeping them warm.

That left this top.  I had to finish what is essentially a mini fabric museum. I had thought to take apart the blocks and add sashing, or even take the plates off the background since I really couldn't remember what I had used for background fabric.  Given my financial situation at the time, it won't have been anything special--probably a poly/cotton blend.  Then, I decided to finish as it was.  The first level of quilting lines were already marked.  I couldn't see myself quilting this in the same way as the double wedding ring, so I decided to keep the quilting to a minimum and make it colourful.  I used a variegated Auriful 30.  I would have liked to use a no 8 perle, but it was just too difficult to pull the thread through the fabric, so I went with the thinner Aurifil.  It looks very pretty on the white background fabric and on the lighter-coloured solid spokes, but not so much on the darker or patterned ones.

One of  my favourite parts of the quilt is the binding.  I think that I pulled out every fabric I had to find one that would work with this riot of relatively saturated fabrics, and I even cut and prepared one, but it just didn't work.  Finally, I settled on several fat quarters that I received in a grab bag and made a pieced binding that works with scraps in the quilt.

With its generous wool batting, it's perfect for these nights when a duvet is too warm, but a quilt isn't warm enough.  I'm using this as an extra layer on top of the quilt, and it's just right.  I'm very happy to have this one done.