Delightful Daisies

It is finished.  That quilt I told you had been one of “those” to piece.  The one I described as being the cause of my most recent piecing malaise and of which I said that all you happy piecers out there would wonder what the big deal was when you finally saw it, even though it gave me free motion quilting withdrawal and led me to a random mini quilt of wild abandon just to get my fix …

I finally got to quilt it last Saturday – cheerfully started before 8 a.m. and finished just before 2 p.m.! I got to spend the evening hand stitching the binding to the back while I watched TV and carefully positioned my heating pad to relax the various muscles I strained by not taking appropriate breaks all morning …

The whole idea (and free pattern) came from Angela Walters and the Midnight Quilt Show.  I’ve loved this Daisy Delights fabric line by Lily & Loom, sold on Craftsy.com, since it first came out and this was my second order of the whole fat quarter pack.  When I saw her pairing it with solid white, with the opportunities for fun free motion quilting that would actually show up, I decided I wanted to make it.

The part of my brain that usually says “no” to a bunch of half square triangles that require picky trimming had apparently checked out for a bit so I pre-washed my fabrics, pressed them, trimmed them and set about cutting them up, anticipating my pretty bright quilt top.

Enter the time consuming part.  You can count them yourself.  But I was pot committed, as they say, and I don’t believe in UFO’s when it comes to my sewing projects (not sure I believe in them anywhere else either, but I digress…) so there was nothing to do but forge ahead and get them all sewn together, squared up, and laid out on my design wall.  🎶 “Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this quilt top grow …” 🎶

Generally, for me, it’s ALL about the quilting.  I’ve made many, many quilts with lovely fabrics and cute designs, but I’m always a little blah about the finished top on its own, until it actually becomes a quilt.  Now I have to say that, as far as I can remember, I believe this is the first quilt top I actually liked on its own merit BEFORE it was quilted.  That meant I had an attachment to it when I sat down to quilt, and my brain was telling me I was keeping it.  Nearly every quilt I make is started with the intention of selling it in my online shop.  Sometimes I only get attached once it’s all done and I see the quilting effect, and then I have to detach myself and let it go, but I had to admit I was quilting this one for me the whole time.

I mean, it has daisies!  And I love the fabric.  And I love the white.  And I nearly quilted it to death (an Angela expression – I even tried her technique for making the feathers look like they are moving back and forth from in front of to behind the piecing as they go around the quilt).  And it has a cozy flannel backing.  Once it came out of the dryer all soft and cuddly, it was mine 🙂