Yes! It's finally finished

The last of the binding's been sewn on, and my scrappy quilt is complete.  Phew!  

This is the back of it - who doesn't like a nose at the reverse of a quilt to see what fabric's been chosen or what stitches can be seen?  Are those stitches straight or wonky?  

And two more views of the front.  

I also made today's postcard challenge, an applique of a pear.  Why a pear?  Hmmm, I dunno.  The thought of doing it popped into my mind and that's about all the explanation I can give.  

I cut a pear shape out of interfacing and sewed strips of fabric on to it, then appliqued the completed pear on to a 6 x 4 inch piece of calico, padding the fruit out with a small amount of polyester wadding.  I tidied up the edges and added a few quilting lines, and it was done.  

A charity shop browse added another book to my To-Be-Read pile, a copy of Kate Atkinson's 'Transcription'.  Always love her fiction.  Plus more material for my upcycling stash.  A top in a pretty cotton, and this Dunelm table runner.  Lots of fabric in this and it's a lovely soothing grey.  A very good neutral that I'm bound to find a use for.  

The book I'm reading at the moment is Tracey Chevalier's 'A Single Thread', and am enjoying it.  Set in the interwar years, it's about Violet, a spinster at 38 whose fiance died in the Great War, along with her brother.  She's trying to make a life for herself, not easy in 1930s England when the accepted and acceptable role for a woman of her age was a wife and mother.  She struggles to fit in and find her place in the world.  One of the 'surplus women', those who didn't find husbands as a whole generation of young men were wiped out in the 14-18 war.  

Hopefully I'll finish the book tonight, getting in a few chapters before bed.  Have a good evening, won't you?