Into the Home Stretch!

Thank you all for the compliments and encouraging words.  I made more progress tonight--I have about half of that outside border left to quilt, so maybe about an hour worth of work and then the binding.

As I was quilting, I thought about my crazy design process and I wondered whether you enjoy seeing something like this develop.  You know, with this one, it all began with the idea for an egg.  I thought strips of fabric sewn together and then prepared for applique in the shape of an egg would make for a fun project.  Probably pretty fast too.

Then from there, after I appliqued the egg shapes onto background squares, I had to decide what to add and how to set them.  I've always liked the pieced tulip blocks so that was an idea.  And no Easter quilt is complete without carrots.

After that, the ribbon border came along and then I thought bunnies were needed, but I was running short on time.  So I prepared the applique pieces but instead of hand sewing them, I stitched them down by machine as I was quilting the piece.  Here you can see better how I did that.

With the quilting, I wanted to give the bunnies some defining lines but not flatten them too much--I'd decided to meander the background and I wanted the bunnies to be a bit dimensional and puff up.  I think the quilt lines on these guys make them look a little like Pacific Northwest Native American animals--I'm not sure why, but that's what they remind me of.

I think I was a little slower tonight than I would have liked, but I had Rehab Addict on the TV (DIY Network, I think) while I was quilting, and I kept stopping to see what Nicole Curtis was doing--have you seen that show?  I love her and her ideas about recycling and restoring old homes.  For such a tiny thing, she's surprisingly full of energy, guts, and drive!

I kind of hate to stop this close to finishing, but I have another day of work before the weekend and I need to get some sleep.

See how easy it is to start with a simple idea and watch it grow into a quilt without planning anything specific ahead of time?  Now that Easter's nearly here, it's time to start thinking ahead to the next season and holiday.  I'm thinking about red, white, and blue with flags and stars.  I think I'll start by making a flag and see what it grows into.  How about you?  I challenge you to make a flag and then use your imagination and quilting skills to see what happens next.