Fairly Merry-Hannah's Garden quilt...

Mary created this quilt for a friend who lost her pet. What a great gift. I love the Sunflower burst your eyes are drawn to. I also love how the color values match their pet.  You can read more of the story here. What a great gift to a friend. Mary is a fabric lover and quilter. She blogs at FairlyMerry, cute name. Here are her quilt finishes, amazing! Be sure to visit her blog...

I promised some photos of Hannah's Sunflower Garden quilted.  I didn't get photos of the completed quilt before gifting it.  They kicking and yelling graciously let me have it back for a few days for photos.  The husband had asked me to make his wife a sunflower quilt and a reminder of their pet who had passed on.  He was going to pay me, but as I took almost an entire year to find my rhythm with this quilt, I decided to gift it instead of taking payment.  (they are friends, so it wasn't too much of a stretch)

The sun hitting the quilt just so made it look especially bright.  Sunflowers should be happy, bright, fun, and make you feel good inside. Somewhat like a quilt.

Some of the quilting is grid style, I like to use that for stability.  I used FMQ to make sunflower petals through the panel pieces of the sunflower.  I also made small sunflowers in the center of the lighter blocks, you can see them well on the back.  

For the back I used a sunflower batik, and I was just a tad short of having enough for the entire back.  But, I used that to my advantage for something I wanted to add at the bottom.

In the quilting I wanted to add a small outline of 'Hannah' who was the pet of this quilts new owner.  Hannah was ill and went on to heaven before her time.  I traced a photo of Hannah and stitched over the outline on the back of the quilt.  You can barely see her on the front - as if she is hiding in the garden.  They had wanted a reminder of Hannah, but I didn't want the quilt to be sad, and this way, I feel as if she is there if they want to see her, but not obvious.  She was a very handsome dog!  

Here is the photo I used:

Hannah 

I received a very nice note from the quilts happy home, that alone was enough to make me all warm and fuzzy feeling inside.  But as we had talked about Hannah when I gave her the quilt and she said how sad she still was.  I encouraged her to make a home for a new dog - as that is what kept me going last summer when I had to let go of my own old girl.  In her note she told me that she was inspired to move on from her sadness and will bring home two boxer puppies later this month.  I will need to remind her later, that I did NOT in anyway encourage her to get two!  

Black and white showing value in the quilt.

Penny and Fletcher Pictorial Quilt from Penny Dos Patchwork

Amazing quilt today from Kerry of Penny Dos Patchwork.  I am sooo intrigued by pictorial quilts, it's hard for me to wrap my brain around!  Kerry dabbles in lots of creative ventures, editing magazines, designing boots, making chocolates and now patchwork!  To get the full story see here to see the start of the freezer paper template.  See here for the dogs complete in applique and see here for the finished top.  Kerry sent this quilt to a competition show and you can see here for the judges results!!  Thanks for sharing Kerry!!

It’s finally done, the binding is on, the sleeve has been sewn onto the back, the paint has been set, my label is attached and it’s in the post…

I’ve pretty much dedicated my weekend to this quilt. Aside from housework, a jaunt to Morrisons, a nap, reading Giant George’s book, watching Snakes on a Plane again and cooking roast beef, this is what I’ve been doing.

Saturday saw me finish the quilting after finally getting to grips with the free motion pre-flight checks I had to run on the machine, then Sunday morning was the painting and doubt stage (thank you to everyone who gave me feedback on the painting!), by lunch time I had set the paint and by tea I had sewn on the binding, made the sleeve (using this tutorial) and sewn that on too. By bedtime the label was tacked to the back and the threads had been tidied up and lint rollered to remove real dog hairs. It’s being posted today!

I would probably make another one. I say that- I actually quite liked the process and WANT to make another one, I’m not yet sure of the subject matter though. I’m planning on selling the pattern from the next one I do so it will take a bit of thought. Maybe a puffin from my photos last week? Or the vintage HMV dog (if I don’t sell the pattern), or maybe even a landscape. I’m really not sure yet but if you have any ideas of something other people might want to make too, you know where the comments box is!

One month today and I will be seeing it on display at the Festival of Quilts! Are you going?

“Penny & Fletcher” Technical details:
Finished size 48.5″ x 30″
Technique: Machine Turned Edge Applique
Fabrics used: Mostly scraps from my box- I didn’t keep track of them all, but there is some Pezzy Print by American Jane, a scrap of my own fabric, some Meadow Friends by Deb Strain and a couple of grey fabrics from Ruby by Bonnie and Camille.
Paint: Pebeo Setacolor in transparent black (with lightener), transparent tan and transparent dark sienna.
Piecing: Madeira Monofilament
Quilting: Machine quilted in thread painting style on dogs, bubbles on noses, squiggles (and name) on white and straight line on blue. Gutermann thread, mostly 414 but some dark grey, tan, dark brown, black and a varigated Aurifil at one point.
Backing: Peach Klona cotton
Binding: White Klona cotton