Whimsical and Fun (and Happily Done)

This quilt is destined for my friendly Project Linus coordinator. Once bound, she is using it as a raffle quilt to hopefully generate revenue for our starving chapter. It took me (off & on) about a week to get it put together, amidst other quilting challenges and requirements. I had put together the orange & pink sampler shown a week or so ago, but I don't want to give that one on to her until summer/fall, as I plan to bring it by several quilt shops first.
So, youthful and whimsical was my goal. The inspiration of the appliques is the fabric used in the solid blocks and the corners. It's so sweet, with words like "sing", "dance" and "imagine" imprinted amongst the swirls, butterflies and ladybugs. Those were supposed to look more like butterflies in the outer border (hourglass units), but they did not truly live up to my expectation. Here's the back...

This was my first for using 2 layers of batting. I had only ever read about this technique. It gives the details of the quilting more definition, and makes this one whopping warm quilt too! I used a layer of Hobbs 80/20 of good weight and another cotton that was a bit thinner (and pieced from about 10 scrap pieces I had - testimonial of how thrifty I can be). I love how the feathering came out. I used three different colors of thread on the top - soft blue, white and lavendar. And yet a 4th (soft pink) on the back. Too many changes...Just too many. But it does enhance the look of the quilting to have them coordinating with the fabrics.

...and here is this corner from the back, just with a simple and puffy flower. It's really pretty with the rows of feathering and swirling sashing.

The center medallion has this kind of whimsical, kind of wonky ladybug. It's modeled after the ones in the other fabric, sitting on a big swirl, and a 4-leaf clover and a heart nearby. Sweet. Very sweet. The green for the leaves is all a fairy frost, as are the pinks and purples of the "butterflies", the solid material that the appliques are on, and a pale pink used in the HST borders. The quilt has a great shimmer to it! I gotta admit, I really don't like machine applique one bit. These are fused and satin-stitch zig-zagged down, but mostly because I didn't have time to do it the "real" way (aka needle-turn).

Ahh...the awesome texture and great colors. If I were a young girl, I'd be buying a ton of raffle tickets!

I fussy-cut this flower from a dahlia fabric I had. It was just made for it!

The purple sashing design is one that Carla Barrett showed us in her Quilt Whisperer class which I have been taking (although I secretly pirated it from her a week before she showed us!). LOVE it!

This flower applique accidentally got fused in the wrong place (another reason why I hate fusible applique) SO I had to place a butterfly to balance the design. Looks like it belonged there all along.

And a few fussy-cut circles to make the perfect flower petals. This was a fun paroject, and very creative. And since I don't do nearly as much piecing nowadays, it was nice from that perspective. The back is just lovely with texture.

The last thing I have not showed you (as thouigh you haven't seen enough, I know, with 12 photos in this post...) are the 4 plain blocks. I always hesitate using plain blocks, especially when they are large as these are (9"). I really needed simplified piecing, that is why the only piecing detail is in the butterflies and the HST's. But these plain blocks have a great fabric, and I wanted a nice quilting to compliment it. I chose a feathered heart. They came out great with the double layer of batting. Nice & puffy.

...and the back of the hearts. So sweet. I kinda hope I win this back.

I have 10 days to get it bound. Not sure what fabric I am using, but maybe a scrappy collection of pinks. Hope you liked seeing this! Maybe you have a quilt top you'd like me to quilt for you...just email if so.

Have a good rest of the week.