Nancy Arseneault sent me photos of her two quilts with the following story. Both of her quilts are beautiful, but Nancy points out how important it is to pay attention to the quilting. Thank you, Nancy, for sharing your quilts with us!

I loved your Anniversary Quilt at first sight.  ​Since I like to put my own spin on patterns, I made oversize blocks using hand dyes on a solid black background.  Construction was a fused raw edge technique with blanket stitching. I added some French knots and experimented with trapunto.  Then I put the blocks aside for several years in a UFO bin.  I pulled them out again in 2012 and decided to make a border with additional appliqué elements.  I called it Garden of Pomegranates. It was going pretty well until  a show deadline loomed.  The free motion machine quilting had to be RUSHED.  Did I mention I had decided to go with salmon colored thread on the black background? Bad call! The quilt was ready in time for the show but the rushed quilting had ruined it.

In 2015, I decided that The Anniversary Quilt deserved a do over.  This time, in a completely different color scheme, I decided to make much smaller blocks.  An invisible machine appliqué technique was used.   I changed the setting to allow for some additional background space by separating the 4 Pomegranate blocks with a deconstructed block placed on point in the center.  Once again, a border was created of appliqué shapes from the blocks.  I finished in 2016.  It’s called Back to the Garden. Thought that you might like to see the quilts you inspired and hear about the journey.

Thanks, Becky, for your beautiful quilts, great books & patterns and sound advice.

Nancy Arseneault