Finish up (almost) Friday! - The lunchbox has landed!

Way back when, I showed off the finished tops from the Mariners Quilt Guild challenge and talked about quilting them whilst away in Cape Breton. Well, now they're quilted and bound! I love checking things off the to-do list and these are no exception.

First off, my own little darling. I couldn't resist taking a pic with my new solar patio lanterns.

 

I'm pleased with the quilting... sort of a long sideways stipple. I wanted an all over pattern so as not to district from the blocks - there's a lot going on there with all that orange and blue!

I used an orange-yellow batik for the backing. At first I thought it wasn't orange enough, but it grew on me. Given the scrappy feel of this one, I went for a pieced binding. A big thank you to Nurse M (ret.) for including the mottled blue that she took from her stash. It's perfect in the binding, better even than the sunflower batik.  

 The obligatory full size shot... in case you forgot what it looked like from the previous post!

 

And then comes my adopted lunchbox quilt for Little Mrs KO. She passed away just after the quilts were revealed and never saw what a sister guild member made for her. I volunteered to quilt it on her behalf.

I kept the quilting for this one super simple - straight line, horizontal and vertical, spaced 2 inches apart. 

Since the binding fabric was multi-coloured, directional print, I thought it would be best to cut it on the bias to avoid clumps of colour. Time for another experiment - rounded corners. Thinking about giving them a try? stay tuned for Tutorial Tuesday! And can I say how fond I am of that backing fabric - kind of wishing I'd bought more.

Little Mrs KO's quilt is destined to be donated (as per her request) to an organization that helps individuals with mental health issues. I'm thinking Choices. When last I visited our local children's hospital to donate some baby quilts, the volunteer coordinator pounced on the twin sized quilt that I had brought. She said they receive very few that are suitable for the teens in the Choices (addictions and mental health) program. Come the fall, I'm throwing down the gauntlet to the members of Mariners and my Bees. If you're a hard core quilter, you've probably got a few twin sized quilts hanging around. When you think of the love and comfort that a quilt can give, how could you not want it to go to a young person in a stressful or even life threatening situation? 

J