Chinese Coins Wall Hanging

I made a quilt very similar to this one about a year and a half ago. It was a wedding gift for a good friend. At the time, I cut out twice as many fabric rectangles than I needed and saved the ones I didn't use in a tidy pile in my sewing box, where they waited. And waited. I'm not sure what inspired me to finally dig them out, but they sure were happy to see the light of day!

I really enjoy this project because it is an easy way to use up some scraps. I love scrap quilts and will often buy those $0.05 pieces of fabric they sell at the quilt shop, which defeats the point of using up scraps but what can you do? It would work with any number of color or fabric themes. I have a lot of bright colors and think it would be nice to make a wall hanging using all of those brights - like a rainbow - and do the borders in a light blue - like the sky. It would make a nice decoration for a child's room.

The rectangles were cut to 1.5" x 3.5" pieces and there are fifty total (ten in each row). There was no hard and fast rule as to where to place each patch - I just tried not to place any similar colors next to each other. The sashings were cut to 2" and the outer borders to 3". I put two sleeves on the back, so it could be hung either vertically or horizontally.

It's a quick and easy project. Unfortunately, it took me much longer to complete than I anticipated because half-way through I sliced my finger with the rotary cutter! When I tell people who don't know much about quilting that I got eight stitches from a sewing injury, they think I am crazy. When I tell people who do know about quilting about my rotary injury, they think I am crazy for a completely different reason. They seem to think that I cut my finger because I put it directly in front of the blade and then rolled right over it. Let me assure you that it didn't happen that way! Somehow, my blade slipped up over the ruler and embedded itself right into my finger. I always knew they were very sharp and that I needed to be very careful, but accidents do happen I suppose. Still, I feel pretty stupid.

My husband, who thinks he is very funny, thinks I should call this quilt "the Emergency Room Quilt." I am not taking his advice, although it does make for a good story. It's a shame that I do not yet have business cards, because several nurses and other hospital-type administrators asked me about the cut and quilting and it would have been the perfect opportunity to talk up my business and get some advertising in. Of course, they might not want to consider buying a quilt from someone who, as far as they know, can't sew without mutilating herself. Oh well.

Somehow, the quilt managed to not get any blood on it. Thank goodness for small miracles.