Calendar Quilt

I finally finished my calendar quilt about a month ago and thought it was time to post it for all to see.

I will apologize now for the photos as some came out with the background brown instead of black.

I started this applique quilt when I had 6 Ave Quilting in Nakusp, BC back in 2013.  Most of the appliques were adapted from free images on search engines and changed or modified to make it possible to applique.

It has turned out to be as much a memory quilt as a calendar quilt as it moved to Vancouver with me and was worked on a bit.  Then across the southern US in a motorhome to be finished here in Saint John, NB.

Scrappy loops.  To much fun!

I was lucky as I had every thread color in the world (well almost) to be able to match tread color with the fabrics being appliqued on.  I makes a big difference when you really want to pop the designs.

See the birds?

  I also packed across the continent black batting which I new would be important to make the quilt dark and to make sure that there was no white showing through the needle punctures on the longarm.

Butterflies and dragonflies.

Then came the fun part.  Topstitching this quilt was a blast as I just added a few of my favorite things, bees, butterflies, dragonflies, swallows, and flowers.  A quick meander and echo around everything gave the quilt life, motion and interest.

A few of my favorite things.

It takes very little extra time to add images into a echo or meander.  Using a dark blue thread instead of black makes the topstitching visible without it being lost in the background color.

I had debated whether or not to applique on the end year (2020) and decided not to.  But I did topstitch it in just under the 2013 as a reminder that not everything happens at once and with a little preserverince all things are possible.  

Although it took me 7 years to finish this wonderful quilt, it was well worth the stashing and packing it around for that time. Once my bedroom is painted, this calendar quilt will hang on the wall at the end of my bed so every morning I wake I can smile and remember all the adventures I have had along the way.