Memory Quilt - Done

This quilt was made for my Uncle and Aunt.  He is the last surviving sibling of my mother's family.  The quilt is meant to highlight their life together.  He is Italian, signified by the "pasta" print; she is from Germany, the beer print (I couldn't find anything else that seemed to represent Germany), they lived much of their life in New York and now live in Las Vegas - the top and bottom prints.  I added some pictures to tie it together.

I was anxious to try the strip method again - like used on the cuddle quilt.  I think it is a good option when the prints themselves are telling the story of the quilt, but it works better with the nappy fabric of the cuddle quilt.  I overquilted because it just looked too plain without some additional quilting.  I'm still not too good at binding, but I keep trying.  The funny thing is, I found a quilt that I made 30 years ago before I knew anything about quilting and my corners on the binding are perfect!!  How did I do that?  I discovered how to use some of the decorative stitches on my machine and used one to attach the binding and another for decoration.   So, again, another learning experience.

I've recently discovered some new things about quilting.  This is probably old news to anyone who has quilted for awhile.  There is another way of piecing a square called "paper piecing".  There are several patterns listed here. I may try this on my next quilt for a few blocks if I can figure out how to increase the size of the pattern.  Also at this blog there are nice hints on how to do free motion quilting using just a regular sewing machine.