IT’S TIME FOR THE FALL QUILT FESTIVAL

Parkcity Girl is hosting her fall quilt festival.  I missed the spring festival but got to see soooo many beautiful quilts.  I’ve decided toparticpate in this one.   There are several quilts I would enjoy sharing.  The one I made for my college roommate when she had her first grandchild; the one I made for my sister – all red and white with “sister” quotes embroidered on it, the nursery rhyme quilt I made and sent to my neice when her daughter Mabry was born or the one I made for my boss before I retired – my first attempt at a log cabin.  But I’ve opted for the family tree quilt I made for my Mother in law because it is definitely the most challenging project I’ve attempted to date.   I had come up with the idea of making her a family tree quilt before I retired and moved to Nashville.  I wanted it to be realistic rather than kind of abstract and decided I would try to use my embroidery software to create the leaves for the tree.  I thought I could appliqué the leaves, cut them out and then attach them to the tree by hand or machine.  I looked and looked on the Internet and found a pattern that looked exactly like what I was looking for.  I found the fabrics I wanted to use and then put it all away for the longest because I was AFRAID  to get started.  Finally I made myself pull it all out and just jumped in.  I sewed the two background strips together and then put it away again for the same reason.  The tree just scared me.  When I finally took the plunge, the tree though time consuming wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  I fused the entire piece of “tree” fabric to something like stitch witchery.  Then I traced the pattern and cut it out. Once it was cut t I laid the tree out on the background and when it looked to be in the right place, I ironed it on.  After that was done, I used my machine and did a small zigzag stitch around each branch and the trunk of the tree. That was the most time consuming part of the project.  It worked quite well.  I found an embroidery site that had a leaf appliqué for $1.25 and used it to make my leaves.  I had gotten several different colors of batik fabric for the leaves.  I made a leaf for each member of the Neal clan and embroidered names and birthdates and also date of death where applicable.  Then I put Granddad’s and Grandmother’s leaves at the highest spot on the tree and  grouped the other families in various spots below them.   I really didn’t think I would like it until after I had added the borders.  They made such a huge difference.  I used leftover fabrics for the binding.  Believe it or not I’m having to add four new leaves.  It’s great to know the family continues to grow:)

Here are some pictures of the quilt in various stages of completion.