Susan Keck sent me this photo of her Whimsical Garden quilt. This is her 2nd quilting project ever and she won best of show!
Susan, I’m proud of you for tackling this as a new quilter. You have sewing skills and it shows. Well done and may you continue to have many happy stitches as you start on Steve’s Birds, in wool!
Nancy Arseneault sent 2 photos of her almost completed Aunt Millie’s Garden. I love everything about this quilt! Notice the scallops inside the sashing… so cute! The background has a gingham-like appearance that, when combined with the sunny orange and grassy green, makes me think of a picnic on a beautiful day. Happy!
Nancy wrote:
I think it should be called The Long and Winding Road.
When Covid hit and I was secluded, this is the first pattern I grabbed. I made the blocks with prepared edge invisible machine applique and set them together. Then I set them aside to await a border. A few months later, I was diagnosed with a serious disease which claimed the next 2 years of my life. No sewing for me at all.
Finally I pulled out the quilt and figured out a border that I could accomplish. The sewing was challenging but it brought me back to myself. I’m not able to manage the quilting part right now so I sent the quilt to Jan Hutchison to be quilted. I’m so happy with the way it turned out. Now I have only to block and bind it. Since I’ve so enjoyed all the photos of this pattern on your blog lately, I decided to show you this one in the works. Nancy Arseneault, Santa Fe NM
Nancy’s story is not picnic-like, but there is joy in this quilt! Nancy, it’s nice to know you are sewing again!
Diane Kirwan sent this photo of her quilt, saying: “I so enjoyed make it Aunt Millie. I felt it deserved custom quilting.”
I love the cool, calm, collected colors that Diane put together. I do not usually have this much self-restraint which makes me appreciate it even more 🤣.
This is Cathy Lucas’s Aunt Millie’s Garden quilt.
Cathy’s color palette includes all the colors in a thoughtful and balanced layout. Purple sashing adds visual unity to the quilt as a whole. Cathy writes:
Here is my version of Aunt Millie’s Garden. I loved making this quilt and seeing other people’s interpretations. My quilt won a blue ribbon earlier this year at our Pride of the Prairie Quilt Guild show. Your appliqué patterns are among my favorite and I’ve made several over the years. Thanks for being here and being you.
It’s fun to see these quilts together. Each is wonderful in its own way. Thank you, Diane and Cathy, for sharing your quilts with us!
Aunt MIllie’s Garden is available as an ebook. Click here to find it.
In my recent newsletter, I invited you all to send photos of your Aunt Millie’s Garden quilt. Nancy Bradford responded right away. Her quilt is so happy :-)! And I really like the strips in the top and bottom borders that lead your eye to the applique blocks. Nancy wrote:
My version of Aunt Millie’s Garden won a 1st Place and Best of Show at the 2013 Golden Needles Quilt Guild Show in Conroe, Texas. I collected the fabrics while on a trip to visit a quilting friend in Minnesota with other quilting friends.
Amy Mitchell sent in the following photo of her Aunt Millie quilt top. The colors sing on top of the deep chocolate brown. And using 9 blocks instead of 12 make a very nice square quilt.
It’s nice that Nancy and Amy shared their quilts at nearly the same time because it’s great to see how the light and dark backgrounds change the look of the quilt. Both are lovely, but they are also very different. I will date myself and say… Cool!
Thank you, Nancy and Amy, for sharing your quilts with us. Happy stitching.
Amy Fisher sent in this photo of her newly finished Birds in Toyland quilt. I love that she embraced the applique, embellishing, and hand quilting to make a wonderful quilt that she and her family are sure to treasure. Read more below…
Of course, life happened… but I finally finished my quilt on Monday. I enjoyed the entire process. I’m not the best hand quilter, but I got better by the end. I had never done well at appliqué, but I got better the more I did. I absolutely loved figuring out how I wanted to embellish each piece. And I loved the embroidery part. I used a turkey stitch on many of the hats. But I would never do the lettering the same again…even though I like how it turned out: all those French knots and beads! Took forever!
Thank you so much for all of your videos, all of your clear explanations. Your friendly personality is what simply makes it all special.
Amy Fisher
Thank you, Amy, for sharing your quilt and the story with us! If you are interested in the book, click here. Click here for the online class on Creative Spark.
Jill Isakson sent these photos and the story about this lovely ribbon-winning quilt made by her, Linda Neal, and quilted by Richard Larson The oak leaf border is from my pattern, The Anniversary Quilt. which is in our ebook, Flowering Favorites.
My Lucky Stars, whose applique border is based on your design from the Anniversary Quilt has received a 3rd place award at AQS Quilt Show in Paducah, KY. I did the fabric selection, overall design and piecing, Linda Neal appliquéd our adaptation of your border design, and Richard Larson did the fabulous quilting. Thank you for your inspiration and beautiful border design. It truly is the icing on the cake.
Regards – Jill Isakson
Well done Jill, Linda, and Richard and thank you for sharing your exciting quilt with us all!
Piece O Cake Blog 