Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Summer Poppies - Sold

This is my first jelly roll quilt. The fabric is from Joel Dewberry's Atrium Mint collection. I just love
the flowers and the hint of the "Arizona" feel of the fabric.

Below is the pile of 2.5 inch strips from the jelly roll. This quilt is very simple and goes together very fast. For a very easy tutorial, check out Jenny at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bEJLnaZQOU. It took me a bit longer than Jenny to get these strips together, but the process was fairly easy.




Here in the northeast we didn't have much of a winter. Can you believe there were no snow days or even a delayed start to the day at school?  This quilt feels the  way the northeast felt this past winter: Cool, breezy and sunny.   Can you believe it was 75 degrees on Christmas Eve?  
Here is the front of the quilt a Work in Progress (WIP) .
I worked on this at Shirley's during the winter Saturday quilt days. Quilting on Saturday afternoons for  few hours make the winter somewhat bearable. It kind of speeds up those cold, dreary days of February and March. 


Here is the back of the quilt. Because I consider myself a beginner and  always a learner, Shirley helped me square these strips to add to the back. I first learned of varying the back of quilts by looking at  Kelly's quilts at  "My Quilt Infatuations ". She is very frugal and uses fabric in very creative ways on the backs of her quilts. 
Sometimes I think the backing is more interesting than the front. 

I wanted to make a statement on this quilt, not sure why, I thought  an applique of poppies might create a focal point of interest. 
After I cut the above design, I decided to layer some of the poppies from the printed fabric on top of  my original layer of applique. 

Although I liked the strips from the jelly roll, I liked this extra focal point on the quilt.  It would make a great quilt for a bed or a wall hanging;. I'm thinking, Arizona, California, or even in Florida homes. Any home really to get that easy breezy sunny summer feeling.

I've used pins on previous quilts I've made, but I realized that I like the clips used on the border even better. I just don't like getting pricked by pins when sewing the quilt. 


Here is an example of a quilt label. I love this one.  The yellow shows up so well against the teal color of the fabric. I wish I had a yellow or orange rick rack to replace the white.





I'm hoping this quilt will make a special gift for someone and allow them think of the fun and happiness that summer seems to bring for everyone.

Lesson learned:

1.  I love these colors and the opportunities the fabric gives to making appliques. Always look for more ideas in the fabrics you choose than just  for the quilt.
2. I need to try and get my quilts done and posted in a timely manner. February to July is just too long.


What are your thoughts? I would love to hear what you have to say.

Happy summer,


Summer Poppies Quilt is linked to:

 

5 comments:

Tu-Na Quilts said...

Appliqueing poppies was a very nice addition to your quilt. Lovely finish.

Alison V. said...

This is absolutely gorgeous! :)

Tracy said...

Thank you so much Alison and Tu-Na Quilts for your compliments. And thanks for checking out my blog.
Tracy

Tami Von Zalez said...

I utilize applique to cover my "mistakes" on my quilts - you have taken it to a whole nuther level and I LIKE IT!
The colors in that quilt make me oh so happy! Now I want to do one in that color scheme.
Popped by from Needle and Thread Thursday.

Tracy said...

Thanks Tami. In my mind, happiness are what quilts are all about. Glad you like it.
Thanks for visiting.
Tracy