A quilt finds a home

Fantasy Flowers II, sold

One of my favorite newer quilts went to a new home after last weekend's Tybee Arts Association show and sale. Fantasy Flowers II, which was sold, and Fantasy Flowers I, it's companion piece, were made this summer, using some wonderful scrap-bag fabric.

For both, the backgrounds were made with strings of fabric, cut a little longer than I wanted the piece wide, then stitched together. Since the pieces were uneven, I picked one seam to square from, then trimmed the piece to an even rectangle. For Fantasy Flowers I, I then fused fabric for the vase to Misty-Fuse, cut it out and fused to the background. Then for both, I layered with batting and backing, and quilted in the stems and background designs. Later, I painted the flower stems and designs on the vase, using Jacquard Lumiere paints.

For the flowers, I fused fabric to a similar colored felt, using Misty-Fuse, then free-motion stitched the outlines and details of the flower petals. After stitching, I painted around the outline of the petals, and some accents, using the Jacquard paints again, then cut out the petals.

Next step was stitching the petals, using the sewing machine, to a background piece of felt, then trimming the felt so it wouldn't show. Finally, I hand-stitched beads to another piece of felt, then attached it for the centers of the flowers.

Fantasy Flowers I

I had a couple of extra flowers and made one into a pin, which I wore at the September art show, and got such a great response I decided to make more as pins. The flowers are a lot of fun, since I use crazy colors and shapes, but time-consuming. They made a great display on a green pillow at the art show.

I spent yesterday afternoon rearranging and organizing my sewing room/guest room. I finally got it to the point where I have room to work again, so that's where I'm heading.

A flower in progress

Flower pins on display at the show

More later.