Tea Room quilt--post 4 and the first finish for 2020!

The thread I used for quilting and piecing

After I completed the quilting on this piece, I blocked it. I used to wet the entire piece; roll it up in towels to remove most of the excess water; lay it on the carpet and pin it into a squarish measurement. This time, I sprayed the surface with a water bottle and then used the steam feature of the iron to get rid of the lumps and bumps that happen during the quilting phase. Wetting the piece is the better option.

Back of quilt

While the piece dried, I made the quilt sleeve, printed the label and cut the pieces for the facing.  After the piece had dried, I trimmed the edges and attached the facing. Again, I used steam to encourage the facing to lay flat. I understitch the facing to encourage the facing to roll nicely to the underside of the project.

Facings are a nice method to finish the edge of a quilt. Every piece of fabric in this project was a scrap. Had I more of the border fabric, I would have made a binding; but, I didn't. I had a leftover piece of a green dot fabric that made a perfect facing. As I looked at the facing fabric, I determined that it could have been the binding! It has been a while since I've applied a facing. I needed to practice so in the end a facing was a good choice!

The sleeve fabric came from the guild free table a couple years ago. I chose it from my stash because it went well with the other fabrics that I used on the back. In the novel, the Major lived in a small village. The label with the printed houses was the perfect choice. It was another find from the free table.

Finished label

As you look at the front, I wanted you to feel like a gust of wind had caught the "chain" on the sign and was about to cause it to swing. In the novel, one of the characters was on the precipice of something about to happen and I wanted to convey that feeling in this piece.

I'm pleased with the finished wall hanging and I was able to show it to JoJo before she moved away.  Although at the time she saw it, I hadn't finished hand stitching the facing in place.

This is my first finish for 2020. I used about 2 1/2 yards of my stash in this project. I didn't make a goal this year of how much yardage I want to use from my stash; but, I do plan to track the amount of yardage that I use! I spent about 83 hours and $40 getting this project to the finish. Yesterday, I shared this project with my book club group.

If you missed my earlier posts regarding this project, you can read them below:
Post 1
Post 2
Post 3

The Finish A Long for 2020 is happening again this year. Instead of linking our intentions at the beginning of a quarter and linking our finishes at the end of the quarter to a host, we will be posting to Instagram hashtag #2020falq1finish. I posted nine projects to the hashtag #2020falq1list by the January 19 deadline. It is a new process the hosts are trying this year. I got to learn how to post more than one photo at a time which was good; but, I miss reading other people's posts about their lists.

Finished front