More "Flower Power"

After I quilted Susan's quilt with "Big Shot" die-cut flowers a couple weeks ago, she showed it to another Stampin'-Up demonstrator, Martha Armstrong of Zebulon, NC. Martha brought me her flower quilt on Tuesday afternoon, and I was able to finish it yesterday evening. And she was here bright and early this morning to pick it up, so she can show it in time for a craft fair on Saturday! Martha has a blog where she features many of her lovely cards and other projects.

Martha also used a "layer cake" collection of 10-inch coordinated squares. I've got to say, I love these fabrics and the way they work together. Martha's fabrics were softer colors than Susan's eye-popping citrus colors.

I quilted it almost the same as Susan's, with lots of flowers, leaves, vines, feathers, and a butterfly or two. The three shapes comprising each flower have to be stitched around in order to attach them to the quilt. I used a wiggly circle that somewhat echoes the scalloped edge of each flower piece. The edges will fray if you choose to wash the quilt, for that soft cottage look.63 flowers x 3 pieces = 189 circular trips around. I upped my price after doing the first one of these!

Martha intends to wash her quilt to achieve the shabby chic look. This morning she told me that she had not pre-washed any of her fabrics, including this almost fire-engine red backing. Uh-oh! I guess you can't really pre-wash the jelly rolls and layer cakes that come pre-cut, or they would fray before you even use them.

I have found that reds tend to bleed more than any other color, and with the white background fabric on the top, I was a little nervous about her washing the quilt. I sent her home with a little Gladware container of Synthrapol, a liquid detergent intended to be used for washing hand-dyed fabric. With that and a Shout Color Catcher sheet, maybe her quilt will not bleed.

She is not going to wash it until after the Craft Fair just to be safe! And she has a handful of my business cards in case she runs into any quilters who want to make a quilt with the Big Shot die cut machine.

When I showed this quilt to my husband Charlie last night, that conservative gentleman informed me that he liked the glowing orange back of the quilt better than the front! Okay, this is a chick quilt, indeed!