If you follow me on flickr, you’ve already seen this, but I wanted to make sure I recorded it here, before it goes to its new home.
I started this, erm, almost 2 years ago to the week. It’s a really belated wedding gift for my very dear friend Katie. She is crazy talented. I love how she finds the most beautiful moments tucked in everyday scenes. Her eye for light never ceases to amaze me. She likes to bake as much as I do, and she’s one of my favorite people ever to nerd out with over a perfect pie crust! She understands my enthusiasm when I find the perfect balance of spices in a new sauce, or why I get excited over heirloom beans. She and her (equally wonderful) husband have been treasured friends, and a literal blessing when we had Willow 3,000 miles away from all of our family. I would’ve made a quilt to the moon and back for her. And oddly enough, it kinda feels like I did, especially when I had to unpick 3+ hours of quilting cause my bobbin tension was all wacky 🙂
This pattern comes from Elizabeth Hartman’s first book The Practical Guide to Patchwork. It’s called Little Leaves and it feels fitting that I finally finished it at the onset of fall. While this is an easy pattern, it is very time consuming. I found that making a template of the final leaf placement ( with cutouts of the leaves) allowed me to quickly position the appliqué in a consistent, timely manner. I used all the leftover bits of prints I had to make the back.
I made 30 blocks for the front, as I wanted this quilt to be large enough for two people to snuggle under during Portland’s awesome cuddle season (aka our rainy ass winters). The prints are all from Anna Maria Horner’s “Innocent Crush” line, the background fabric is Kona Coal. I quilted a looping swirly design all over the gray. I left the leaves unquilted to give them an extra pop. All quilting done on my Bernina 440 QE ( using the BSR)
Since this is a busy quilt , I decided to add some sashing and round off the edges. I used the thinnest binding I’ve ever made for a quilt. It finishes at about a scant 1/2″ on each side. To me, that gives it a much more modern look . The rounded edge and yellow binding serve to calm and draw the eye outward, making the whole thing very calming despite all the pieces of fabric! I’m so happy with this, but I can’t wait to get rid of it!!
I’m taking this to guild to show off this thursday, and taking it to Katie on friday. If I’m being honest, I’m mostly excited about the pictures she’ll take of it 🙂
Golden Willow Quilts 
What a beautiful quilt! I am in love with it! And your loopy quilting looks amazing too. I am in awe! Thanks for sharing. I am glad I stumbled upon it 🙂
Ale I gasped when I saw this at guild! So amazing! I’m totally in love with it and in awe of your dedication to the project! Oddly enough the only time I’ve had to do a major rip out on a quilt was one for a friend! Do you love hour Bernina with the stitch regulator? I have to admit I’m lusting after the new 750QE pretty bad!
Thanks Amber! Sorry I didn’t really get a chance to chat with you, but I couldn’t risk spreading my germs to you and Bennett! It was really hard not to come over and kiss her sweet cheeks. Anyhow, I do like my BSR. It took some time to get used to it, and I have to make myself use it on the slower speed otherwise I feel like it doesn’t get the stitches as consistent as I like them. You’re welcome to come over sometime and play with it!
wow – such a beautiful quilt! it would take some serious determination to finish all those little leaves 🙂
That is beautiful!! Love it!
Thank you!
It’s stunning, and I love the loops in the quilting!
Thank you! I had a bad time with the quilting. I almost always check my bobbin tension throughout the quilting and for some reason this time I didn’t. Four hours later, I flipped it over and realized the tension was wayyyy off and I had to spend about 8 hours unpicking it all. I was pretty eager to get it done afterwards. I think I ended up quilting the whole thing in 2 nights!
Beautiful! You said exactly what I was thinking when looking at all those blocks – that it looked very time consuming! 🙂 It’s worth it though for such a pretty quilt!
This is just gorgeousness all around. I love it!