Spring Breeze

This spring I was able to join the Modern Quilt Guild Riley Blake Challenge.  They sent you 6 fat eighths in the mail from the Cottage Garden Collection and you had to:

• Make something fantastic that is quilted.
• Make something you've never done before.
• Challenge yourself to learn something new.
• Use only Riley Blake Cottage Garden fabrics and coordinating Riley Blake basics and solids

 This is the fabric that I was sent:

 

I quickly decided that these fabrics reminded me of Spring, because of their colors and patterns, so I wanted to make something "Springy".  I wanted to try a kind of art quilt using applique, since I have never done that before.   I decided that my subject would be a tree.

The next challenge was the fact that I only had a fat eighth of each of the fabrics.  I challenged myself to not buy any more of the Cottage Garden fabrics and I just bought a Riley Blake solid (I think it was "Pewter") for the background, backing, and binding.  Since I had so little fabric, I decided to go with half of a tree for the subject of the quilt.  I made the trunk using small improv curves (a new-to-me method) and then I appliqued down the trunk and the branches on the backing fabric.  

Unfortunately, I have no pictures of my progress.  After appliqueing the trunk and branches, I quilted it- I used a "tree bark" kind of design on the tree and swirls in the background (both of these quilting methods were also new to me).  After quilting, I appliqued and quilted down the leaves on the trees- I wanted the background quilting design to be behind, not around, the leaves.

I decided that the swirl quilting looked like a breeze in the tree so I named it "Spring Breeze".

 

It is 35" x 41", so a nice size for a baby quilt.  I really like the way that the edges of the leaves got a little "furry" after I washed it (since I did a raw-edge applique there).

Here is a picture of the backing, so you can see what the quilting looks like.  See how the leaves are green on the back too?  I like that detail :)

 

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish-it-up Friday!