A finish – an accidental Fourth of July quilt!

 

I needed a fun, whimsical, short project, a frolic. Somehow I ended up with this very “Fourth of July” looking quilt! Maybe it could even go Christmas?

The nine-patch middle is a vintage block that I bought last year at Houston. Actually I bought maybe 15 blocks, with no plan. I think I will have to visit that booth again this year… I just love the vintage middle! You can see the stains on the left and right white-ish blocks. I’m good with that. I was afraid to go after them too hard lest they disintegrate.

The corner blocks looked bare so I added the simplest of applique shapes and free motion stitched them in the ditch with big ole heavy 12 wt Aurifil. I know that this piece especially kind of fades into the block, but I adore “lost edges”.

I simply stitched-in-the-ditch in the white blocks, again with 12 wt Aurifil. You can clearly see the staining here. I love that print! It’s almost modern looking.

I wanted something very simple in the center block so I simply repeated the orange peel shape.

Of course I had to feather the border! I love, love, love the juxtaposition of the glorious, glowing silk next to the matte, stained vintage cotton.

The back is pretty interesting also. I will add to the writing on the back that this quilt cannot be immersed in or sprayed by water. That red dupioni is a super bleeder.

I used it in another quilt, with disastrous results. I experimented with another silk bleeder, using a zillion color catchers and the dog gone stuff bled all the way back to the greige goods! The bleeding dye laughed at the color catchers as they passed them by.

This was a 3-day project, took longer than I thought, but was a pure pleasure to create. Now I have a patriotic quilt, who knew? I hope my US friends have a safe and joyous Fourth of July! I am blessed to be an American.

I’ll be linking up:
Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday
Finished or Not Friday