En Provence Quilt - A Finish

 I took the final stitches in the binding and label for En Provence yesterday evening. Today was a crisp and clear Fall day, so I put it on the clothesline to get some photos.

Maybe I take too many pictures, but it seemed like it was only fair. You work on these quilts for multiple years and then all of a sudden, they are done. Ready to be packed up and given to someone who will hopefully enjoy them. It's only fair to have a photo session. Speaking of which, Quarta needs to get her Senior photos taken before we ship her off to college. Hmm.

 Anyway, En Provence was the mystery quilt starting in the Fall of 2016. It was the quilt top that I used as a background picture for my first smart phone, and it's still on there. It really is a gorgeous pattern, with the motion of the purple accented with the sparkling magenta stars. I seriously depleted my purples and neutrals when piecing it.

The quilting pattern I chose was squiggle-loop-flower, with a couple different types of flowers I repeated more or less randomly. I depleted my cone of Robison-Anton eggshell thread when I was quilting it. I used to buy it at Joann's, at the dealership inside the store, but they don't carry it anymore. I will have to look for another source for better-quality machine quilting thread. I picked up a spool of Aurifil at Craft Warehouse, but I've never tried it before and really, I'm on a roll (sort of) with machine quilting. I want to encourage myself to get a bunch more done, and that means buying a big cone of thread. And probably a few more extra-wide backings, since piecing backings is kind of a drag.

I really like the light check fabric I used for the backing of Grand Illusion and the label on this quilt. I also like the kind of grunge-looking extra-wide backing (and binding) I used for this one. Maybe another trip to Joann's and another coupon to buy another backing for when I'm ready to quilt On Ringo Lake. I have been piecing a backing for the Tone It Down quilt, which I want to do next. And I finished piecing the Scrappy Trip Around the World top, which I'll share next time.