Tesseract {Emerald Quilt Challenge Finish}

My Emerald Quilt Challenge mini is done! First finish for the year (apart from appeal quilts) and it's not even on my FAL list. Anyone else notice how well I've been ignoring my list ;o)? I think nearly all my projects will have to carry over to the next quarter.

Anyhoo, I finished handstitching down the facing last night, and we have sun today so I managed to get some pictures. I've decided to go with Ella's suggestion of Tesseract for the name - as my other half pointed out, it gets automatic geek points since it's in the Avengers ;o) Other than that, to me it just fits (just ignore the Wiki definition, okay? I still think it's a cool name :o) )

The inspiration definitely came from actual emeralds - and happily, it is my birthstone! Although I'm not usually drawn to these shades of green, to me it says emerald. I love the depth of colour the Oakshotts give it - the photographs do it no justice at all. It literally shimmers.

I have had a creative grids 45 degree strip ruler for nearly a year and hadn't used it before (I bought it especially to make Lizzy House's Diamond Mountain quilt - still on my bucket list.) I adore Lizzy's quilt design, and that became part of my inspiration as well. It uses kaleidoscope blocks in a similar way to what I've done in this quilt.

I will definitely be using two layers of bamboo batting for mini quilts from now on - I love the extra loft it's given without the puff that comes from polyester batting. I didn't want too much puff on this one, but did want the greens to pop a bit more than they would with a single layer. Having said that, I'm not sure that it was such a good plan to go down the no-binding path. Getting it to fold over at the back was a bit of a challenge. Also, my corners are quite rounded, and I'm not sure how flat it will sit when it's hanging. I'd love to hang it on point like this photo - although I have no idea if it's actually feasible. Has anyone ever hung a mini on point? I'd love some tips :o)

It is pieced and quilted entirely using Aurifil 50wt thread (2021 and 2865) - I love that the quilting blends into the background so well (although it blended so well while quilting I did have a bit of trouble seeing where I was going ;o) ) I really loved doing angular quilting too - a first for me, but definitely not the last. I really want to make a triangle quilt and quilt it like I did the green bits on this one.

Quilt Details:
Fabric - Oakshott greens, various low volume grey prints for background.
Size - 24" square.

xx Jess