Finally, I can share my newly finished Paris Flea Market Find quilt! She is quite a beauty, wouldn’t you agree?
This quilt tells a story of how a well-established fabric stash can pay dividends. My good sewing sister and fellow fabric stash expert Sharon and I often talk about future quilts we want to make and wonder how we’ll ever use up all the fabric we have accumulated over the years. At some point way back last fall, Sharon suggested we make Paris Flea Market Find, a pattern by It’s Sew Emma that she had. Each of us would use our respective stashes, of course. Happily, neither of us bought a single inch of new fabric for our quilts. That is very satisfying, I must say.
We cut our quilts out ahead of the retreat at Needles n Pines. We waited until the April retreat to begin sewing. I shared snippets of our beginnings: a sneak peak at mine is here; a sneak peak at Sharon's is here.
My stash for this quilt was a very nice collection of 3 Sisters fabrics: Paris Flea Market, Sanctuary, and Promenade. Sharon used another 3 Sisters collection called Etchings.
While at retreat, I finished all my blocks and all the sashing strips. I’d not prepared or cut any cornerstones or borders. You can bet I did that ASAP upon my return home and I had the quilt top (flimsy) stitched up straight away.
Having a finished quilt top used to be my goal when making a quilt. Now that I am using the long-arm machine more successfully, I occasionally quilt up these flimsies. A totally completed quilt?!! Whoa!
I put PFMF on the long arm on May 29 and took it off on May 30. I then spent a bit of time considering binding options, and once again the stash provided precisely what I wanted! See this post for the binding story.
Last evening, I finally stitched down the last of the binding. A quilt begun on April 7 and finished on June 9 - wow, who’d ever thought this was possible? Especially a big, full-size quilt!? Sometimes baby quilts can be that fast, if not faster. This quilt measures out at roughly 78x85 inches.
More pictures? Why, yes, I think that's appropriate! *grin*
As I took this final picture, I realized that the majority of fabric used in my pillow cases are 3 Sisters - Aviary and Sanctuary. I expect that a few random squares also show up in that front pillow. How wonderful!
Now I owe y'all a few pics of the more recent goings on over here, as well as a long-overdue May collage. Plus, I think a proper picture of Sharon's flimsy is also called for; after all making this quilt was her idea!
Soon, my friends, soon.
Happy Quilting, Friends!
Jayne
