January 12, 2023

TGIFF - Marbles

Welcome to another Newfoundland TGIFF party! I've finally taken pictures of my Marbles baby quilt, which I finished back in November during WIPS-B-GONE, so now I can share it.
Marbles scrap quilt | DevotedQuilter.com
This one is a great scrap buster! Not that my scrap bins are anywhere near empty, of course, but I did use a lot of scraps to make this fun quilt.
Marbles scrap quilt | DevotedQuilter.com
Are the scrap bins ever empty? I don't even think that's possible! If you're overwhelmed by scraps, I have a free PDF guide to help you! It's called Escape Scrap Overwhelm and it's full of tips to help you get those scraps sorted in a way that will actually help you use them for the kinds of quilts you love to make. You can download the guide here to get started.

In July 2021 I wrote a tutorial for making the Marbles blocks. I made a bunch of the crumb-pieced panels that summer and added the corners to a couple of blocks. Then they just sat and sat and sat. I intended to work on them during the first WIPS-B-GONE challenge, but that never happened. I finally got them all finished during the 2022 challenge. The quilt would have been a bit too small to be a good baby quilt, with just the 16 blocks, so I decided to add borders.

First I added a 1" finished black solid border. Then I pieced some of my abundant 1 1/2" squares to make a second border. I have a whole bag full of 1 1/2" squares still, but after piecing these borders, it's mostly dark or neutral squares, so I need to cut some more fun, bright colours to add to the bag.
Marbles scrap quilt | DevotedQuilter.com
I then added another 3 1/2" black solid border. I like the way the plain borders frame the scrappy square border and all of the borders together make the perfect frame for the Marbles blocks. With the borders, the quilt now measures 41" square - just right for a baby quilt!

I quilted swirl hooks in each of the Marbles, using Aurifil 50 wt in a colour to match. It made for a pretty thread rainbow!
Marbles scrap quilt | DevotedQuilter.com
Marbles scrap quilt | DevotedQuilter.com
That swirl hook rainbow looks great on the black solid backing, too!
Marbles scrap quilt | DevotedQuilter.com
The black background got simple stippling in black thread. There are quite a few places where I lost track of where I had already stitched because, even with the abundant lighting I have in my sewing room, black thread on black fabric is just plain hard to see. Good thing quilting doesn't have to be perfect!
Marbles scrap quilt | DevotedQuilter.com
I quilted continuous curves in the scrappy square border. It really was continuous - I quilted the whole border in one line, without needing to break thread. Normally I would use Aurifil 2600 for a colourful space like this, but I'm out, so I used 1135 instead and the bright yellow worked really well. 
continuous curves free motion quilting | DevotedQuilter.com
When we were out of town for Nathan's cross country provincials in October, I visited a new-to-me quilt shop and picked up this fabulous, colourful fabric for the binding. It feels like the perfect fun binding for such a colourful quilt. Plus, it makes me want a cupcake with sprinkles! 
Marbles quilt binding | DevotedQuilter.com
Now it's your turn! What have you finished recently? Or finished a little while ago, but finally got around to blogging? Link it up below so we can celebrate with you. And be sure to visit some of the other links to celebrate their finishes, too.


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5 comments:

  1. The binding is perfect, but your quilting is what puts this finish over the top. Congratulations on the beautiful finish!

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  2. really awesome quilt - it makes a string quilt really stand out

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  3. Beautiful. The black really makes the color pop. :)

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  4. That quilt is SO amazing - the colours and the quilting! You've got me thinking about making one myself.

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  5. Most gorgeous marbles I have ever seen!

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