Urban Bushland Top Finished

This quilt only sort of fits into my "Finish the UFO's" mantra of the moment. I hadn't started it, but the fabrics were sitting around in a couple of crappy shopping bags bugging the hell out of me. And my plan for them didn't require much planning, just lots of cutting up and sewing.

So that's what I did. This project is made up of old, worn-out linen pants and skirts. My plan was simple. Cut them up into uneven strips, sew them together, trim to a block, and make a top.

Above are the strips cut out. All are very Australian bush colours, browns and khaki greens with some creams. Very gum tree!!

Then I just grabbed strips and sewed them together. Only system of thin end to thick end. After I finished, I sort of wished I'd used a 1/2" seam as some of the fabric is quite open weave. But I wasn't going to resew everything.

Then the blocks were ironed ready for trimming. I'd cut the strips to just over 13" (roughly), ready to trim to 12 1/2".

This is the trimmed block.

 

This is the centre layout. The plan was to then put a solid border around. I had originally envisioned this border as being black, going for an arty theme for the quilt of the Australian bush after a bush fire, so the centre would be the trees surrounded by the black of burnt out bush. However, there was a lovely chocolate brown linen that just worked so well with the centre colours. While it didn't fit the theme it was a colour combination I could live with better on a day to day basis. Still bushland, just pre-bushfire!

So the finished top is below. I didn't plan any measurements, just made it up as I went. The centre panel is 48" by 60". Then I just bought linen and cut it vertically down the long length. That actually worked out much bigger than expected, so the final quilt is like 96" by 108" ish. 

I happen to have a large piece of red linen which I got super cheap from Spotlight a few years ago which I will use for the back. And I have batting. So this one really was about using what was on hand, the only purchase being the border fabric. Which actually worked out the same price for linen as for quilting fabric!!! Since this is so huge I will get it long armed if I can. Not sure about binding colour? Any suggestions?