A Finish – Nine Patch Surprise

Last night I put the last stitch in the binding of my Nine Patch Surprise. 

Here’s the “cover” shot.  (You should be able to click on each of the pictures to get a closer look.)

And a shot of it spread out on the floor so you can see it a little better.

No one has ever accused me of being a great machine quilter, but with the help of my “ancient”, “really old” Handiquilter and my Brother PQ 1500, here’s a close up of the quilting. 

I’m really fortunate to live by M & L Fabrics in Anaheim, CA.  They have many high quality fabrics at $2.98 and $3.98 per yard.  This is what I picked for the back.  It’s a Robert Kaufman and I think it’s perfect for this quilt.  Tortilla chips, one of my basic food groups. 

Notice anything interesting about the binding?  Yes, it’s a wonderful stripe cut on the bias, but what else?  Keep in mind I have cut bias binding many, many times in the past and I really do know how to do it, but for some reason my brain was not functioning properly when I cut this.  I ended up with half the stripes angling to the right and half the stripes angling to the left.  What to do?  I had more fabric but did I really want to cut more of it?  HECK NO, just go with the flow.  I just marched along to my own little tune, sewing right, left, right, left, not paying any attention to how long each of the strips were.  You know what?  I love it!  Next time I might even try to do it this way. 

 

Enjoy!