To Coin A Phrase

I finished my father's coin quilt a week or two or ago but have yet to blog finish.  Today, Sunday Stash day with Mollie Sparkles seems as good a day as any other to do so. Dad has been up to visit today and now we are sitting watching tv and relaxing.

Over the years I've made many quilts, but I had never made one for my father. He always admired my finished makes but had never shown any desire to have one himself. Now though he feels the cold and I thought it might be useful when he sits in the garden listening to the cricket on the radio. Previously he would have been working in his greenhouse and keeping warm. It sounds idyllic doesn't it? Budding tomatoes or whatever it is you do with tomatoes whilst listening to the radio in the background and drinking a cup of tea in the sunshine?

Dad worked in finance, so I decided the Coins block was good for him. He also enjoys word play, the Daily Telegraph crossword, anagrams etc so the phrase "to coin a phrase" came to mind.

I thought I would get rid of the brown stuff. Sorry, I meant to say, I would use up some of vast store of brown fabric I seem to have in my stash. This is from the Thimbleberries range, bought from a long shut quilting shop called the Silver Thimble. The cream fabric is some shade or other of Kona fabric. They were first previewed last Autumn in le Challenge, Wilderness.

 
I don't have any of the statistics to hand. I'm not sure how wide the coins are, I think about 9" from memory

 

The quilting is, as always with me, very simple. Three lines of quilting above and below the horizontal seams. One line either side of the vertical seams. I used just whatever threads I had about the house for quilting in colours ranging from dark brown to mid brown and a little orange thrown in. Some of the threads were from my late mother's work box. My mother has been dead a long time, so this seemed a nice way to  incorporate her.

The backing is yet more brown. The same brown that I backed my Modern Falling Maples quilt with, and a strip of the numbers from Ikea. Appropriate for an accountant I thought. I added a strip of brown fossil batik to the backing top to put it all together.

It is bound  in a fabric depicting sand dunes and grasses. Had it for years and years and years.

At first I thought he seemed rather underwhelmed by it. He laughed as the daughter and I took photos in the garden. The next day though he told me how much he liked it and appreciated it. Slow burner my dad!!

No Stash in this week, but I do have some stash the lovely Sandra and lovely Julie sent us all after the Craftsy Blog Hop. Some gorgeous brights in a charm pack and beautiful hand dyed fabrics from Julie. I have ideas for them both, but not yet. A wedding quilt to make, and two garden quilts to finish first.

Helen x
linking up with Sunday Stash with Mollie Sparkles