Pots of Spring!

Well, I am pleased with my “Pots of Spring” quilt!

It is finished and up on the wall above the fireplace mantle in the family room!

It is a bit smaller than the other mantle quilts, so I had to use a different rod to put it up.  :-(

Many have asked how my mantle quilts are hung on the wall.  We’ve tried hard NOT to put so many holes in the walls here in the new house. 

So, I found this system for hanging quilts using super strong magnets that are mounted on the wall using the Command Strips.

(I apologize for the fuzziness of some of the photos!!  Pure laziness on my part… using my iPhone for the photos instead of my Nikon!!)

I think the rod is causing the quilt to not hang straight…it is a telescoping rod with a slight dip in the middle, I think!!  Grrr!  :-(

Making these appliqué quilts are a bit scary…

Not the appliqué part, but the quilting part.

My process is this- I sketch out the pots/flowers/critters on the paper side of the fusible IN REVERSE, then cut each piece out about 1/4” outside the sketch lines.

I  then iron them onto the wrong side of the chosen fabrics and then cut them all out  ON the sketch lines. 

 

I place them on the pieced background and move them around until I have the final look I want.  Then I press them  ONTO the background.

I layer the top, batting and backing and pin the sandwich securely all over.

Now I start stitching around the edges of each fused piece- each leaf, stem, petal, etc.

I also stitch in the leaf vein lines and other sketch lines as desired.  I do start in the middle of the quilt and work my way out to the edges, but work on the appliquéd pieces first, and finish with the background around and between them.

So the background is poufy and dimensional when I start on it…which is really scary to see…  :-(

It is amazing how the quilting pulls it all in and  flat…  WHEW!!!  What if it didn’t?  YIKES!!!

On this quilt the background and pieced blocks on the edges are all stippled with a fairly small design!    And when it’s laying on a table, it is perfectly flat!!  YAY!!

So, although the forecast is calling for more snow on Tuesday here in VA, it may still be winter OUTSIDE,

but INSIDE the Monica home, it is truly spring!!  :-)

I put all my snowmen away yesterday and put out my spring stuff…bunnies galore!!

Has spring come to your neck of the woods??