Beth’s baskets by Jo Morton

Are you bored yet?  For weeks now I have been finishing things, all in time for our exhibition!  This is another UFO that I dusted off to make our late May deadline. 
I started this pattern Beths Baskets from Jo Morton's book Jo's Little Favorites a long time ago.
I have in fact made the baskets twice, because the first attempt was awful.  I unpicked them all, remade them and they were still awful, so my cutting must have been off.  Sew I started from scratch!  Which explains the extended periods in the naughty corner for this wall hanging - time is a good healer ; )
I love the pink fabric in the setting triangles but it is a dirty pink bordering on coral and has been very hard to match.   I had  put a top/bottom border on in the brown stripe, which satisfied my need for symmetry, but made the quilt too heavy.  When I checked the pattern, Jo Morton had just used three vertical sashings.  But she had another chocolate floral print as cornerstones in the border, which looked lovely and balanced out the contrast.  
After several failed attempts to buy the perfect border fabric (and at half a yard each they were expensive mistakes) I decided to just use this one and stop wasting time and money.  Once I made that decision I didn't bother trying to find another fabric, as there is such a thing as too much pink and brown in your stash!

Deciding on binding was an easier chore.  I normally play it safe and use the border fabric for binding, but I had plenty of hot pink used in one of the baskets, which I think gave a nice contrast.  I used my quilting from the back trick again for the cables in the sashing- as much as I love Frixon pens for marking, I have the color come out of the fabric when I ironed the pen markings away.  So marking from the back seemed like a good solution.

I own a few quilting stencils, this is the first time I have really used this one in the outer border....it makes a great pattern that I am in love with.  Combined with some free motion quilted in the setting triangles, this would have to be the most quilting I have ever done on a mini, but I am super pleased with the outcome.
Happy quilting Sue.

6 comments:

  1. It looks great Sue and you are getting heaps finished... quilting from the back is a good idea. I noticed the ghosting with Frixion so I only use them for stitcheries where it will be sewn over. I have good success with the blue water soluble markers for quilt marking...
    Hugz

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  2. That border fabric works really well, even though you weren't sure to start with. Your quilting enhances the whole thing beautifully. Great result!

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  3. Your quilt may have been in the naughty corner for while, but it came out ready to be beautiful. Fabulous quilting!

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  4. Certainly you should be pleased! Your quilt is beautiful, from the pattern, fabrics, piecing, and last of all the quilting! Great job! ---"Love"

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  5. Such a sweet little finish! I love the coral tint to the pinks, and you have quilted the whole thing up very well!
    I like the idea of sending uncooperative quilts to the naughty corner. Have to give that a try! :)

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  6. what a beauty!! perfect little traditional quilt.

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