The quilt I have been working on is Joan’s applique quilt for Easter. She was/is so worried about her needle-turn applique abilities, but I think she did great! Besides, with applique, I think it all blends in when you look at the big picture. Honestly, my applique ability looks a lot like hers. Plus, I have a LONG way to go to perfect my stitch in the ditch quilting. Anyhow, here is a full shot of her quilt. Isn’t it cute?
Joan made the mistake of telling me to do whatever I wanted with the quilting. BIG mistake on her part! People know I put surprises in my quilting, but I can have a twisted sense of humor, and it will show up in my quilting. I was so happy to get to draw on an applique quilt, that as I was quilting merrily along, my sense of humor got the best of me my evil twin took over and quilted stuff all over that quilt!
If you look at the whole quilt, it could be a big parade, so that’s how this first row ended up, with the bunny in front leading the way with a flag.
On the top right is the biggest block. I tried to figure out a way to emphasize the applique, but I don’t think echo stitching around it was the way to do that. This is all done freehand (not computer guided), so duplicating the appliqued tulips onto the left side of the bunny is less than perfect, but okay.
You know how people tend to correct others’ speech, grammar, etc.? The next row down has a bunny on the left saying “Happy Easter” and the bunny on the right with a thought bubble saying “Hoppy” as in Hoppy Easter. Notice the egg “turds” trailing behind the chicken? This is where things started getting… well… evil. This is the “Haters row.”
I mimicked the upper right-hand corner stitching in the lower left-hand corner.
Playing nice, I noticed that this row was full of love. The bunnies gazing lovingly into each others eyes begged to have hearts floating up between them. This is the first block in the “Love is in the Air” row.
The bunnies playing on the Teeter Totter have hearts floating up as if playing along with them.
And, the tulips are hugging. So, of course there had to be hugging hearts as the final block in the “Love is in the Air” row.
This next row, the bottom row, is called the “Hostage” row. Looking over the quilt, you notice how the bunnies are riding chickens and stealing collecting their eggs. So, in the first cart of eggs, there is a chick(en) being held hostage. Next to and at the rear of each cart is a bunny walking guard.
You might be able to see it better here. I just need to remember to clean off the loose threads BEFORE taking pictures next time.
Finally, behind those 2 carts is a chaperone car zooming to stay right behind the hostage.
And, the border, as seen in the last post…
As a side note (*tip!), whenever I think I am done quilting, I take the quilt off the frame and lay it out on a table I have next to my machine. I let it “rest” there overnight so the fibers can relax from being stretched on the frame. This gives me a chance to rest and come back and look at it fresh the next morning. That way I can see if there are places I missed or things I want to add. In this case, I had a “road” stitched horizontally across the middle of the quilt. I didn’t like the way it looked, so I went back and made cobble stones on that path way. I was able to easily put it back on the quilting frame, because of the zipper leaders. They allow me to put the quilt back on the frame exactly like it was before.
I really had a lot of fun quilting drawing with thread on this quilt. I hope you enjoyed looking at it as much as I did!
Cowtown Quilts 