Emerald City Quilt PART 2

I started this quilt in a workshop with Katie Pedersen in her beautiful design studio in Seattle. You can read all about it here.

I couldn't be happier with this quilt. I love the colours and the interesting contrast they create.

The improvisational/ wonky piecing and what looks like random colour placement makes it very vibrant. Katie referred to this as 'controlled chaos' and that works so well. I think there is just so much to look at in this quilt.

I opted for straight line grid quilting to create interest and almost a bit of visual tension between the piecing and the quilting. I also used three different colours of beautiful 50wt and 40wt Aurifil thread, I love to play with colours!

I had originally planned to make the quilt one row longer but that looked somehow out of proportion so I scrapped that idea. I instead cut up the excess blocks and created a zig zag with these smaller blocks which also works well for the back I think. The quilt finishes at 55x70"(1,50 x 1,95m) which makes it a nice lap quilt to snuggle up.

I love to mix solids with some graphic print fabrics, I used the 'Squared Elements' print also for the binding.

Oh, that binding! This was the second time I ever hand sewed a binding to a quilt and the first time to a large quilt like this one. I never thought I would do that! It took me three evenings to sew the binding on while sitting on the couch enjoying the process. 

Katie and Marla were so kind to show me how hand stitched binding is done after the workshop. I have honestly been converted to be a hand binding sewist, seriously, it looks so much better!

That quilt will be forever cherished. It holds those happy memories of our trip to Seattle, but it's not only that that. I also associate quilty friends with this quilt and this awesome community I can proudly say I am part of.

Seattle is also called 'The Emerald City'. I didn't need to think long how to name that quilt. In the photo above the quilt is in a beautiful bag I got in Seattle (fabric shopping) with kind of a similar colour scheme. Go figure!