Steam Punk Finish

This week I finished the very last bit of sewing down the binding on my epic Steam Punk quilt that I started early in the year last year.  It's been a long and enjoyable journey. Each block was an adventure in choosing fabric. For the sashing choice, I used a fabric from our shop, Polka Dot Tea, called Melange Yarn Dye in black, which is very much like Essex Yarn Dye in black only that it is a much finer weave and has less imperfections. It's now my go to fabric for adding a bit of a textural look in my project (sorry, it's sold out in black in the shop - we are waiting for the next shipment).

I do admit that I struggled a bit with making them look random and scrappy. I really struggled to get the look that Jen Kingwell had with hers, but by the end it was happening almost as if by accident and I was pleased with the perfectly imperfect look of the quilt.   

I quilted this on my Gammill Statler Stitcher using a pattern called "Water Drops" which I think suits this quilt very well. I had debated for a long while about whether to custom quilt this or not, but in the end I felt that custom quilting it would be too "fussy" and against what I was trying to achieve with this quilt.  The quilting provides the movement that I was hoping to achieve. All in all, I'm now very pleased with this finish and am now inspired to finish work on my Midnight at the Oasis quilt.