"Flight of Fancy" Quilt

Whew!  I finally finished this quilt top ... hooray!!! It is all machine applique and seemed like it took forever, but it turned out to be quite nice.  The pattern is by Late Bloomer Quilts and the fabric collection is by Holly Holderman of Lakehouse Dry Goods.  The colors are quite bright and beautiful.  I decided to change thread colors to match the fabric pieces and that little decision added hours to the job.  It's not like you can do all the pieces that are green and then switch to another color ... you have to sew the pieces in the correct order for what goes on the bottom layer and then up from there so I did them block by block.  The blocks do not go together in straight rows, but rather in segments and the segments are not perfect squares or rectangles either.  This was created to be a "BOM" (Block of the Month) where you pay a monthly fee to the quilt shop and they ship you a block (or other section of the quilt) until they have sent you all of it ... usually a year, but not always.  I have never done a "BOM" program for two reasons ... I am too impatient to wait for the next package AND they are way too much more expensive in total than just buying a kit all at once.  These programs are very nice if you are on a budget and you don't get to sew very often ... but they drive me crazy (LOL)!

I used baby Rick-Rack for the cherry stems in all the blocks.  They are glued on.  The birds' feet are all embroidered by hand.

The large center-piece flowers have four layers of fabric to them:  dark pink, light pink, white, and gold.  The flower vase center is made of tiny ribbon that is glued on and the outer two sides are made of bias tri-fold tape that is blanket stitched down both sides of the tape and enhanced with covered buttons.  The words "Flight of Fancy" beneath the vase are not machine appliqued ... they came on a piece of fabric with several of each letter in the alphabet ... I cut out each letter that I needed and sewed the rectangles together to make the block.

I just love how the black polka-dot on yellow background fabric looks like real watering holes on the watering can!

There are 9 square-in-a-square blocks and 15 half-square blocks arranged in small groupings around the quilt top. 

I am getting control of my newest sewing machine that I purchased just for doing fancy stitch applique, but still have a long way to go to perfect my curve turning skills!  I can certainly change thread (and bobbin) with the best of them, though!!

This is a small quilt, coming in at ~50" by 56".  It will make a wonderful table topper or wall hanging.

I hope you like it!

Happy Summer to you all ...

Quilts Sew Shabby