I finally finished my Flea Market Fancy quilt. I fell in love with this fabric line a couple years after it was made. Since I was unable to purchase any at my local quilt store I hit Etsy and Ebay. I gladly scooped up other quilter’s scraps. Once I had some from each of the beautiful color ways I went to work on designing a pattern. Sounds easy and the finished quilt top looks easy enough. But, it was more brain work than it looks. I was working with scraps and I had to make sure I picked a size that would maximize each piece and leave little to waste.
This top took me several weeks to piece. Then, sadly, it sat and sat while I struggled to choose the perfect backing. Finally, I decided no other design would compliment this line. I went with solids. I chose an aqua for the back and a grass green/gray for the binding. I also had two lonely squares left from piecing the top, so I added them to the back.
The gray piece was actually an “accidental, on purpose” that I add quite frequently. I measured out how much of the binding I would need and pieced it. When I was stitching it on the back side I noticed I was short several inches. I grabbed some gray binding that I already had and voila. Now, as soon as I finished with the binding and was standing up to admire my most beautiful quilt. I noticed a lone piece of green binding that had fallen under my chair. I like the interest that the gray adds so in the end it worked out great.
For the quilting I did an all over stipple. That is my favorite way to finish a piece and as this was my favorite line I was sold.
Funny side note, Denyse Schmidt did a re-release of the Flea Market Fancy. I did save my pennies and purchased 2 yards of each color way. I have yet to cut into them. I am hoping once my sewing room is all finished and I have them out I will be inspired to use them and not just hoard them.
