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

Refractatorium

Tuesdays are one of my child-free (aka sewing) days, and I got a heap of stuff done today!

I finished quilting my Emerald Challenge quilt. Thanks so much for all your wonderful name suggestions, there are a few I really love - I'm no closer to a decision, mind you. That might take a bit more time. I've decided not to bind this one - I've stitched on facing around the quilt and I'm in the process of handstitching it down at the back. I tried taking some photos of the top today, but it was the greyest most dreary day ever, so you'll have to wait for the big reveal when I get some good light ;o) This is the back, though. I love the back so very much :o)

I also finished up my February bee blocks for the AusMod bee. This month was Jane's turn to bee queen - she designed this block (Refractatorium) especially for the bee, and the quilt is going to be quite amazing. It's paper pieced, but each block only has eight PP sections, so it wasn't too difficult - no walk in the park, but they came together reasonably easily. 

I've made a bit more progress on the appeal quilts too - and a few more tops arrived this week, so I'm hoping to knock a few more over in the next few days :o)

xx Jess