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

Comments

  1. I am glad he told you the next day that he liked it. I do picture him wrapped up in the quilt and enjoying his afternoon. :)

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  2. To Coin a Phrase. That is sweet. You incorporated a lot of meaning into this quilt. I am sure he will gain comfort from it and enjoy using it. Which is what this is all about!

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  3. Really glad he liked it - it was obviously a labour of love!

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  4. That is truly lovely. Well done :)

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  5. What an appropriate name for your dad's quilt! Glad he's liking it, and I hope he gets lots of use out of it.

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  6. I love the special little touches you added to this quilt for your dad. The fact that it's a coin quilt and that great number fabric on the back. I'm sure your dad will enjoy it as he listens to his games on the radio and sips tea. And wasn't that little stash surprise from Sandra and Julie awesome??

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  7. A very masculine looking quilt....I'm sure he will love using it.

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  8. This is such a warm quilt, Helen, with much symbolism in it (which I ADORE)! I am not a fan of brown, but do seem to have a fair amount of it. When you see all the values you used, and the pop of cream that you added, it just screams, no it doesn't, it softly whispers, "Come snuggle" doesn't it? I just love it, and I didn't think I'd feel that way about a brown quilt. How I wish I'd got my hands on some of that fabulous text print of IKEA's. "Slow burner"...that was my dad. Miss him dearly still.

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