Orbit quilt finish

On a freezing cold day I’m able to share with you a quilt finish.

This is the original fabric pull, all vintage sheets from my stash (some recently obtained from the vintage sheet FQ swap):

It changed a little and I went with the bottom floral print for the background fabric rather than the plain blue solid.

There was a fair amount of cutting to be done but thanks to Lindsey’s clever pattern which includes a quilt by number chart it was easy to put together.  The pattern is currently free to download and after 1st April it will be available to buy from Lindsey.

Last night I finally finished sewing the binding on:

Finishing the binding meant that all that was needed were photographs, so despite the temperature I took a walk to the park at the end of our road and pegged the quilt to the fencing of the tennis court.  I was concerned about the strength of the wind and the ability to get a decent shot but it was obviously blowing in the right direction, I think it would have stayed up without pegs!

Backed with a vintage sheet:

And the quilting? I’ve never free motion quilted a quilt so I thought ‘why not start on this one?’ For the centre of each Orbit I used pebbles:

For the outer square I did a loopy something or other:

And then for the Orbit I used parallel lines following the outer edge of the Orbit:

I’m pleased with it as a first attempt at free motion quilting (obviously the straight lines are not FMQ!), I can see how with practice it should improve.

Thanks very much to Lindsey for a great pattern (I can see myself using it again) and for hosting the QAL.

Quilt Stats:

Size: 60″ x 60″
Fabric: Vintage sheets
Backing fabric: Vintage sheet
Binding: Vintage sheet – 100% cotton candy stripes
Quilting: Quilted by me on my machine
Batting: Hobbs Heirloom Wadding 80/20
Pattern: Orbit by Lindsey Rhodes of LR Stitched

I’m linking up with:

My goal for the month was to just get the quilt top made but as building work on the house was slower than anticipated (i.e. I was not evicted from the dining room until last week) I was able to get the whole quilt finished – great big hurrah!

Not so hurrah is the cold weather and this sight at the end of today:

Yep that’s right even more of the back of our house is missing! Spring/summer please come soon, our house is so cold.