Melissa's Quilt

Christmas is over and I actually finished my last project with about 36 hours to spare! I had so much fun making this surprise for my youngest daughter, Melissa. Years ago she picked out a pattern by Thimble Blossoms called Sassafras. She told me she wanted me to make it for her someday when she had her own home. Well, last year she and her husband bought a house and this year she reminded me that she was due a quilt. 

This is the quilt pattern Melissa selected. 

I remembered Melissa's pattern of choice and so it was just a matter of fabric selection. The walls in her living room are painted grey, she has a black and white rug on her hardwood floor, the sofa is medium grey and her curtains are navy with blue and yellow flowers. Black and white prints were a no-brainer for the background and I decided to carry the blue and yellow from the drapes into the quilt. 

I wanted the quilt to be bigger than the pattern called for, so I made it 60X72. The blocks were elongated nine patches, each measuring 6X8". Since I needed 90 blocks, that meant cutting 810 pieces. It took a lot longer than I thought it would to cut all those pieces! But it was fun to see the progress as the hours ticked by.

Then I started sewing. I chain pieced several blocks at a time and made it go rather quickly. It still took a really long time to get all of those pieces sewn together.

Finally the blocks were made and I could put them up on the design wall. I was thrilled with the way it all came out. Now, it was on to the applique..........

I thought the quilt really came alive with the applique on it. I used Steam A Seam lite fusible interfacing and used the "doughnut method" to adhere the applique pieces. I then used a machine blanket stitch to applique them down. This quilt is going to get a lot of use and I wanted the applique to stay "fresh". 

I was actually completely finished with the quilt on Dec 23rd-a Christmas record for me. I am usually still stitching binding up to the very last minute. I used the same yellow fabric that I used in the cone flower for the binding and I love the way it looks.

Melissa was SO happy and very surprised on Christmas morning. She had no idea I was making her anything at all for Christmas, much less a quilt. It was a fun surprise. :)

Happy Quilting-I hope your Christmas was merry too.