From K - Finished: African Wax Print Quilt

Nearly a year and a half in the making, this was undoubtedly the longest unfinished WiP in my pile. Knocking it off as my first finished project in 2014 may just be the perfect way to kick off the new year.

I pieced together this quilt using a bag full of wax print scraps brought back from a tailor in Ghana by a work colleague, as well as quite a few prints that I purchased myself when living there in 2008. Between my yardage and my colleague's scraps, and a few prints that I purchased from an etsy seller in the UK, I actually had enough fabric in the end to make two throw quilts (you can see the one I made for my colleague as a trade for hauling back the scraps here).

Since I had limited fabric at my disposal (mostly scraps), and planned to make not one but two quilts, I was very conscious of the need to use up all of my tiny pieces. Using the magic numbers method (described by Sew Katie Did in her tutorial here), I was able to maximize my fabric and still eek out a decent sized throw quilt.

You can read more about my process of making this quilt here and here.

When I could manage it without loosing valuable fabric, I tried my best to fussy cut a few prints. The goat in the above photo reminds me so much of my time living and travelling in Africa. A few other fussy cuts included a 'Rollback Malaria' decal, a fish print, and some emblems for various organizations such as Ghana Health Services and an agricultural college in Tema.

Given that my wax print fabric stash was so limited, I caved and ordered my backing fabric from a distributor in the UK that specializes in authentic African fabrics. While the print is beautiful, in the below picture you can see that the style is slightly different. I only wish I could have afforded to fly back to Ghana myself to buy more at the local market. If only budgets were unlimited right?!

Final Quilt Details:

• Quilt Name: Magic Numbers African Wax Print Quilt
• Finished Size: lap sized (54" x 72")
• Fabric: collection of wax print fabric scraps and yardage purchased on trips from Ghana, West Africa, plus a few FQs from an etsy seller in the UK (top); wax print yardage from an etsy seller in the UK (backing fabric); Fabricland Black Dots (binding).
• Pattern: magic numbers tutorial by Sew Katie Did
• Quilting: double line of curved diamonds quilted on my home machine (can be seen on the pink prints on the photo above)

Over the weekend I celebrated finishing off this old UFO by starting a brand new project. I mean what's one more WiP now that I that I knocked an old one off the list?

This is my fifth completed project for the Q4 2013 Finish A-Long - read more about my other goals here.