Blogger's Quilt Festival -- Applique : :

If you follow me regularly, you'll remember seeing this quilt a bunch this year! It was so long in the making, changing many times, but thankfully turned into a finish I'm very happy with. This is the project that taught me how to quilt, and was made extra special by it's story and recipient. I'm excited for this chance to share it in the Blogger's Quilt Festival!



I wasn't sure which category it fit best, but decided on Applique since those elements are my most favorite parts of this quilt. The idea of a Little Folks voile, yo-yo flower garden is what started this project after-all!







The rest came together piece by piece, all unplanned. My "sketch stitch" girl, the patchwork, the appliqued butterflies.







It's made up of Anna Maria Horner prints with a few Pure Element solids, is both machine quilted with variegated Aurifil and a few of the decorative stitches my Janome offers, and hand-quilted with floss. Ans, it now lives happily with my friend Jodi!





I have started a new quilt with a similar vibe that I hope to focus in on finishing after the holidays. This type of slow-moving quilt work is something I really enjoy and plan to continue to develop. Making a quilt each year that includes one of my "sketch stitch" thread drawings and favorite fabrics is one of my personal goals for each year!



 Quilt Stats

name: An Applique Art Quilt
size: lap size
fabrics: Art Gallery Pure Element solids & Anna Maria Horner fabrics
quilting: straight line & decorative on my Janome 12000, along with hand-quilting
backing: Anna Maria Horner's Coreopsis in Lime from her Loulouthi collection
binding: Anna Maria Horner's Hugs & Kisses in Wine from her Loulouthi collection

Thank you so much for stopping by today! ♥ Maureen

An Applique Art Quilt : :

It feels so good to share this finished quilt today! I decided to call it my Applique Art Quilt, but was also thinking of calling it my "A" Quilt. "A" for lots & lots of Anna Maria Horner fabrics, for Art Gallery Fabric's Pure Elements, for Aurifil thread, for applique, and an "A" for the sketch stitch art piece I designed this finished quilt around. Lots of A's!! And, as it turns out my very favorite photo from my picture taking was on this pretty apple tree, perfect!



I tried my best to take photos of the whole finished quilt. A few in some of the beautiful spots we discovered on our walk the other night, along with a few others with a painted church door and an old brick chimney as my backdrop.







Right away, I could tell that this is just one of those quilts that truly shines up close and in person. It really is the details that makes this quilt for me, which I wrote about here back when I shared the finished quilt top.



A quilt that started a couple of Summers ago with a panel of handwork -- yo yo flowers made in Little Folks Voile and many little stitches!



That quilt grew around my sketch stitch girl, with lots of improv patchwork, and one large block made of neutral pure element solids appliqued with fussy cut moths & butterflies from Anna's beautiful Sinister Swarm Field Study & Clippings Loulouthi prints!  



That was finally quilted with several colors of variegated Aurifil, combined with some of the fun quilting stitches my Janome offers, as well as some simple hand quilted stitches that I really enjoyed adding!



It's backed in one large piece of Coreopsis in Lime from the Loulouthi collection. I wish I would have taken photos with a bit more of the sky here, the bright green corn field and the blue sky matched this print perfectly! It was so gorgeous to see!





I finished the quilt by binding in this Hugs & Kisses in wine print, again from the Loulouthi collection. I'm so glad I stashed some extra yardage of this particular print in each color a while back with my owl pillows in mind. It makes an awesome binding!!



I wish you could feel this picture! The Little Folks Voile and the Art Gallery fabrics make this quilt so, incredibly soft!!



This quilt is the first quilt of many quilts I hope to make in this style. I have several sketch stitch pieces & some newly stashed Hand Draw Garden just waiting to become quilts, and I'm excited to jump right into the next one! Throughout making this one I did, at times, put pressure on myself to see it finished quickly. But every single time I would get it out to work on I would end up changing directions. In the end, I learned that that's okay, it came together in perfect timing, and now I'm ready to send it off to my friend!

Last year, right around this time, I had stepped away from this blog those last several weeks of Summer to spend with my kiddos before they went off to school. I was really struggling with my health, but mostly with the changes that were in store for me with my last baby heading off to school. It was tough, that day we took them all to school was so hard for me, but was made so much easier when that afternoon an amazing quilt was delivered to me all the way from Australia, made by my sweet & thoughtful blog friend Jodi. I shared here just how wonderful that was and I promised Jodi a friendship quilt in return. A quilt to be made with nothing but Anna Maria Horner fabrics, lots & lots of love, and hope to be able to show her how much what she did meant to me.



Having this blog and all of you to share with means so much to me, thank you all for encouraging me the way you do. This is such a dream come true!!    ♥   Maureen

A Quilt Story : :

Even though this quilt is not yet quilted and bound, I couldn't wait to share it! I like to think that most of the things I've made have a special story. Most of the time it's just my own, for only me to know. I'll share my favorite photos, of course the fabrics, who designed them and where they came from, but rarely why it was made, which is perhaps the most important part. Unfortunately I have a hard time with that, with taking the time to explain myself and letting go of that worry of sounding silly. The truth is, none of these things we make are just fabric and thread. Our work is our labor of love and undoubtedly an extension of who we are. As woman, as mothers, and as creative people who want to take what we've made and share, give, pass on, sell, and teach this craft that we love. It's a beautiful thing, indeed!

This quilt has a story that's easy to tell, but long! So I'll save who it's for and why for when it's finished. Today, I want to share how special it's pieces are to me. Can you believe that parts of this quilt are from the very first quilt I ever tried to make -- voile, applique, embroidery, hand-work galore. Over ambitious, Yes!
I had big ideas as a new sewist and learned quickly that I had a lot to learn first! So, my first attempt at quilting got tucked away. I revisited it just a couple of time over these almost three years that I've been sewing. It's one of those extra special projects that never needed to be finished in a hurry anyways.

My first yoyo flowers -- photo dated  July 13, 2010  -- eep!!

This girl, that I realized yesterday I've called both a "sketch stitch" and a "stitch sketch," has been waiting to become something, as well. Another first attempt at something new, another something special of mine, unfinished and waiting. This little wip might be the best example of what I wanted to do when I began sewing. Besides making useful things for my family, I had thought of making nothing but patchwork handmade things with little thread drawings. A nice idea still?

Stitch Sketch wip --  photo dated March 20, 2012

Then there's this drawing that I did this past Summer. Intended always to be a part of a quilt idea I had, but never started. It makes me so happy to have used it as inspiration in finishing this special quilt.





The rest of this quilt is made up of a colorful, improv patchworking of all Anna Maria Horner fabrics, and a few neutral Pure Element solids, my favorite! I took my pictures this past Sunday morning, the sun was so bright and the backyard was full of shadows. Here's the best I could do for a full shot!



This is my very favorite!



Now before I send it off, all that's left is deciding on how I should quilt it -- by hand or machine?  
What would you do??

I'm leaning towards using the machine this morning, only because I'm so excited to see it all finally become a finished quilt!   ♥,  Maureen 

Little Folks Garden Quilt Progress: :

Yesterday I shared a little of this quilt's story. It is the very first quilt I started, in the Summer of 2010. I had BIG plans! Keeping with the flower theme of Anna Maria's Little Folks Collection, I started making yo-yo flowers to applique with lots of hand stitched details.



I enjoyed what I was doing and was thrilled with the reaction I received here when I first shared my work. I was motivated to keep going, but quickly the reality of working on a project that required so much handwork, right smack in the middle of our Summer took hold. And so, my first quilt was carefully tucked away in a basket that rested above my voiles. Until now!



I'm still happy with the work I did, but know I've learned SO much since I started this quilt. I am gaining confidence in my quilting each week and even though I clearly have more than enough projects going to keep me plenty busy, I think this one is in need of some love and attention, too. SO, when I had the idea to add a giant yo-yo flower just like the one above, in the very center of what I had so far -- I went for it!



And it was really fun! Like all yo-yo flower making is. Doesn't it look like a huge cupcake liner? In comparison to my other yo-yo's, it's big!



It took me a second to figure out how I was going to stitch it to the quilt top (too much hand stitching is out of the question for me right now) and once I did, it made me smile. Like all yo-yo flowers do!





I will be adding more yo-yo flowers, it is a Little Folks Garden Quilt after all, but for now I'm going to slowly add some floss stitches when I can.



If any of you are curious or interested in a tutorial on making and/or adding yo-yo's to projects like this, small or large, I'd be happy to add it to my list of future tutorials in the works, just let me know! If you love these fabrics, you can find some of the Little Folks Collection still available in the shop of my sponsor Pink Castle Fabrics. 

 ** Friday's Giveaway Update ** Since Katy never came forward to claim her bundle, a new number was drawn by Mr. random this morning and comment #45, Judi was chosen! Congratulations!! I apologize to anyone this might upset and will make certain that the winner can be reached prior to me announcing it here from now on.

p.s. Tomorrow I'll be having a new fabric giveaway in celebration of my two year blog-iversary! Here's a peek. Be sure to stop back!!