Ta dah–a finished Chinese Coins quilt!

The bindings are re-cycled
eyelet hemmed edgings
from vintage linen sheets

Several hundred French knots, metres of seed stitch, Mennonite tacks, satin stitch, running stitch and blanket stitching–not to mention a complete loss of sensation in my fingertips and my Chinese Coins quilt is finally finished and on the bed. It's wobbly and unsophisticated, but I'm basically happy with my quilt and I like its handmade look. I especially love how it feels: the combination of linens and Japanese woven cloths, along with the utility stitching adds a real warmth and gorgeous texture to the quilt. If I were to start over however, I'd take a more systematic approach, rather than my hotchpotch method, which resulted in far too much wastage. I can also see that we are going to have to keep Willow well away from the quilt, already we've caught her eyeing up the stitches assessing just how much she might enjoy picking at them with her sharp little claws!

Patrick prefers the stripes running horizontally, and I have to agree, somehow they make our rather small bedroom seem much larger. Having a small bedroom has made photographing the finished quilt much more difficult than it should be, so for now all I can show are pics of the folded quilt, and these, somewhat disappointing snaps of the quilt on our bed, which don't really do it justice. I fear I might have to head for the park (we don't have a garden) and find a bench or branch I can hang the quilt from. I am panic filled at the mere thought, the last time I did this, I was so completely self-conscious that I rushed the photographs so no longer have a proper record of my last quilt as I've since given it away. Patrick has suggested hanging the quilt on a wall, which a I think is a great idea. Unfortunately this means fixing a rail that is fit for purpose, in an area that is well lit, which will involve much decision making on our part. As it usually takes us ages to decide on anything (partly procrastination, partly a natural tendency towards slothness) this post would probably have to wait until next Christmas–and I'm much too impatient for that!

Here, you can just about see
the backing, which was made
from worn out pairs of pyjamas.

If you have any nifty tips for photographing your quilts, I'd love to hear them!

E,
x.