The Finial Finish for the Year

I missed posting last Monday.  There really wasn't much to post and with Mom here, it was hard to get both the photos and the computer time to put something together.  So at least you know, I usually put my posts together in real time.  

One thing I did find time to do during Mom's visit, was finish the binding for String Lights (Meadow Mist Designs). 

I started this quilt in May of last year. It was part of the blog hop to support Cheryl's book "Just Two Charm Pack Quilts'. I've participated in Cheryl's annual mysteries for the last nine years and really like her designs.  The fabric is from a kit I purchased in 2013. I've always loved these Timeless Treasures Tonga batik fabrics, but never knew what to do with them. I think they really shine in this quilt. 

The original quilt doesn't use any borders, but Grad Girl thought the quilt needed some.  The quilt is in Texas now.  Grad Girl is gifting it to the Post Doctorial fellow in the group.  He's leaving at the end of December and taking a new position in Germany.  He's been a great resource and provided a lot of moral support for Grad Girl these last 3 years. 

Trudy quilted wavy lines down the "strings".

 

That worked well, especially since that makes it look like the chains are in solution.  That statement may have you scratching your head, but bear with me.  Of course since this is going to a chemist, the name of the quilt has to match the discipline. Right? The group makes and studies polymers, so after a review of the terminology associated with the field, we agreed on: 

Step Growth polymerization produces dimers (2 molecules), trimers (3 molecules), tetramers (4 molecules) and so on.  These smaller molecular chains combine to from the longer polymer chains, thus the term "step growth". The different "chain" lengths of the strings running across the quilt are suggestive of that polymer process, so that's the name we went with. (What can I say, we are nerds to the core it seems).

Step Growth is finish #6 for 2024.  That's double what I've been finishing the three years. So it's definitely been a good year, even if I didn't match my record of seven finishes in a year.  Maybe that will happen next year?

Linking up with Design Wall Monday and Patchwork & Quilts.