A Finally Finished: Postcards from Sweden

My Postcard from Sweden quilt is finally finished so I'm happy to post since it seems that finally finishes have been few and far between for me this year. I know the linky party hosted by Sandra of mmm! Quilts isn't until next week (April 18th) but I wanted to post about it today for several reasons but mainly because it is a big finish for me.

Hubby and I took advantage of the glorious sunshine today to take photos at the walking path by the neighborhood playground and it would have been perfect if Windy didn't decide to tag along.

So far in 2018, I have participated or am participating in five QAL and I'm pretty proud that I have stayed on schedule with them despite having a few squirrels and one blogger (clue: she's hosting the Postcard QAL) distracting me.  I have to say my participating in the Postcard from Sweden QAL was erratically consistent, I was either early starting with the sewing of the HSTS, really behind in sewing the rows together due to a visit to the Granddaughter and then finally pushing to getting the top and the quilting done (an extra week was added to the schedule) during the past few days only to be early.  

The making of the Postcard quilt was made possible by:

• my stash of Kaffe Fassett shot cottons which have been waiting patiently for the right project to use them
• my Sizzie die-cutter--thank you 4-1/2" HST die
• my having a supply of 5" cardboard squares to make color cards and them little white labels to help keep the HSTs in order.  I only made one HST wrong but when you think about it, would anyone had noticed
• my big display board to make sure the HSTs were positioned right

The machine quilting was a breeze; I did squiggly quilting lines, just like the original quilt, in a lilac thread.  Needless to say but this quilt is so squishy soft.

As for the backing and the binding, it had to be Kaffe Fassett fabric and it had to be from my stash so despite not having a lot of Kaffe yardage in my stash, I had this purple somewhat paisley print which had most of the colors in the top.  As for the stripe binding, it was not my first choice, I was going to mix two fat quarters of other stripes since I didn't have enough of one but wasn't really sold on using them. I decided to check in my binding drawer to see if there was any Kaffe fabric in there and lo and behold there was yardage of the pretty multi-stripe.  (The rule of my binding drawer is that right after a top is made, I set aside the binding fabric in the drawer which then is not to be used for any other project.  I cannot remember which quilt top  I set aside this stripe fabric for and I'm hoping that I didn't need all of it.)

I just had to include another photo of my Postcard from Sweden Quilt because I love it so much.  My quilt measures 48" x 60" and it just the perfect size to cover the legs especially for the road trips which we will be taking one next week to Myrtle Beach.  This quilt is so soft thanks to the Kaffe fabrics and the colors just make my heart sing.  I will say my quilt is not as bright as the original Postcard from Sweden quilt. I used whatever Kaffe fabric came closest to the ones specified from the original quilt based on what I saw online and even though I don't know if they were on the mark I just love the combinations.  As I mentioned before, would anyone notice if my colors are off.  

And lastly, two more things:

If you read my last Throwback Thursday post, hosted by guess who, Sandra of mmm! Quilts, (you can read about it here where I recounted my memory of receiving a gift of a doll pattern from Amy Butler which may have been prompted by the outfit I was wearing, here are the lime green socks I mentioned.  After I posted, I remember that I still had the socks, maybe a little faded, and I pressed them for the photo--are they not cute and the wearer deserving of a free pattern.  They're now hanging in my studio and maybe one day I'll make a really big doll so she can wear them or I'll save them for Micah who I think will have big feet like me since at one-year old, she's at the 99 percentile for height.

And speaking of Micah, here is a photo taken by her Godfather, Chad, of Kamerad Arts, reminding me of how long I've been her  Grandmother. Thanks for all of her birthday wishes which were posted. BTW, see what I mean about her having big feet; at least she has a smile to go with them.  Hee, Hee, I should be receiving a message from her mother soon.

Linking up with:  My Quilt Infatuation, Needle and Thread Thursday,  MMM Quilts, Crazy Mom Quilts, Finish It Up Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday, Busy Hands Quilts, Finish or Not Friday