What's in the Bag?

This is the bag that stores the miles of bias binding that I have left over from quilt making! I keep a special collection of stripes and plaid fabrics that I like to use for bias. I think bias makes the best and longest lasting binding. (I feel so strongly about this that I wrote a booklet about it.)  There is a strip of almost everything I have in this binding bag, so when I'm auditioning binding fabrics, this bag always gets pulled out.

Last week, in an earlier blog I asked you to vote for how you thought I should bind or face the outer edges of my collage. I initially wanted to face the edges, but something inside of me kept telling me to bind the edges instead. So here is the finished quilt. It is just funky and fun.

Scraps of a Different Color, (c) 2012 by Ann Fahl 32 x 21 inches

I chose to bind it with two of the darker fabrics.  This gives only a slight contrast to the outer edges. I used the blue/green stripe on the left side and the charcoal/red print on the right.

Now that the quilt is complete, I've attached the hanging strips on both the top and lower edge of the quilt back.  The label is attached, which identifies the quilt and me as the maker, and will shortly be uploaded on my website. Also it gets its own listing in my quilt inventory notebook. The digital photography has been taken and stored. My initials always go near the lower right corner. On this quilt it is located near the white spade-like shape.  So it is truly finished. Nothing more needs to be done to document the fact that I made this quilt.

The actual ginkgo leaf I used for the pattern was given to me by my neighbor. She had just been to the library on Lake Michigan and found the leaf.  I immediately cut one out of fabric but never used it.  So this leaf has been pinned up on my design wall for years.  It is good for it to have a real home. I quilted it with a wonderful variegated Superior gold thread.  The purple cup in the corner is from Ginkgoes Galore.

The fish is something I cut out years ago, I think they may have been part of the fish left over that could have been included in Fish Tales! Fish Tales is included in A Black and White Tale.  The coneflower lying on it's side is from the quilt Sewn Together. The little ginkgo leaf is something of which that I've used hundreds.

The pink coneflower is from a large quilt that I am currently embroidering. The cup is from Ginkgoes Galore. The large green hand painted and beaded leaf is from one of my all-time favorites Summer Sanctuary.  I painted hundreds of these coleus leaves and only had 2 or 3 remaining.

As usual, even though I've made a good attempt at using my little fusible scrap shapes, I still have many. It's difficult to close the drawer that holds them.  There will inevitably be more in the future.  It's a challenge to see how I can put them all together.

So here it is for you to enjoy, part of my quilting life in scraps!

Ann Fahl