Lollypop Trees Best of Show!

 Yes, it is true, I finished my Lollypop Trees, put the quilt in the Pieceful Hearts Quilt Guild Show this past weekend in North Augusta, SC, and won Best of Show! Wahoo! I am excited as I had worked on this quilt over a period of 3 or 4 years. In fact, I finished the top a year ago and it took another year to get up the courage to quilt it.

But, here it is!! It was such a pleasure to make this quilt, from choosing all the different fabrics with my friend, Ille Waters, shopping for the fabrics, trying to discern exactly what had been used on the pattern, to slowly hand stitching each circle, leaf or flower.

 Here is a portion of the border and sashing. I did just a continual swirl through all those squares and then treated the other little baby lollypops with lots of quilting like the large blocks.

 This green block below was the Judge's Choice on her comment sheet. I think the quilting showed up in it better than many others.

 Below is another closer view of this block.

 Just another block. I did all the quilting just as each block 'spoke to me' you might say. I stitched in the ditch around all the blocks and the applique, then filled in with swirls, feathers, whatever seemed to fit that block. I will not deny that it was very tedious work, even on a longarm.

 Another close up.

 One more block!

 This was a fun center. Oh, and I ended up stitching a lot on the applique as the shapes were so large they needed to be quilted to balance out the heavy background quilting.

 The above block in full view.

 And yet another!

 And another. . .

 And one of the corner blocks! What can I say? I really enjoyed this quilt and so appreciate the ribbons awarded me for my effort in time. Hope you enjoy looking at these pictures!! I know from seeing this quilt in the show that there will be more Lollypop Trees started. You can find this lovely pattern by Kim McLean at Glorious Color.com.

Lollypop Trees Quilted!

It may not be very easy to see these pictures, but I have completed my Lollypop Trees quilt! That is very exciting for me as this project has been ongoing for several years, but such an enjoyable journey. I enjoyed every applique stitch. Wish I could say the same about the quilting as it was quite a difficult quilt but worth the effort.

Lollypop Trees is in a quilt show this weekend in North Augusta, SC at the North Augusta Activities Center. I hope to get some better pictures with it hung properly.
Here are just a couple of close-ups of the blocks. Now, let's see what project I'll work on next! Oh, I know, I'll finish my Flower Pots that are just lacking a few tiny circles.

Lollypop Trees

I have finally loaded my Lollypop Trees Quilt on my longarm and have begun the quilting process. Just took me a year to finally get to it but I want to put it in the Pieceful Hearts Quilt Show in North Augusta, SC in October so . . . . . .it must be quilted.Deciding on how to quilt it has been a dilemma but I went for swirls in the border and sashing squares, SID with the blocks and applique - which is a lot of SID, and my version of mctavishing.
It is slow going but so was the applique. Love this quilt!!

Lollypop Trees

I'm finally posting the full picture of my Lollypop Trees quilt, (well, it will be a quilt once I get it quilted) the pattern designed by Kim McLean. I recently joined the blog, Glorious Applique, and posted it over there. If you've not been to that blog, you should visit - all applique projects by Kim McLean using some fabulous fabrics, not only by Kaffe but many other inspiring choices.The quilt is so large I could barely get it all in the picture and had to stand out in the foyer. I enjoyed every stitch taken. Btw, I think they have greatly improved the pattern from when I bought it 3 years ago. It was half a pattern and the circles were hand-drawn. My friend, Ille Waters, and I remedied that by making our tracing overlays and using Staedtler plastic circles for our templates.
Here are some close-ups for a better view. One of my favorites was the pastel block above.
If you want a long-term project with very easy applique, this is the one for you! So fun!

Lollypop Trees Coming Together

I have been working on the borders and sashing of my Lollypop Trees for over a week now. June is usually a slow month for longarm quilting so it gives me a chance to put in extra hours for my own quilts which is nice. I had to cut 600+ squares for the borders and sashing on this quilt.

It was fun going back through all the colorful fabrics I used and then separating them out so I could get my squares in order. Think there is about 75 rectangles in the border going between all those baby blocks I saved til last.

Here are the border rows being put together on my design wall. Then sewing, then being sure these hundreds of squares will line up properly and the seam allowances will butt up against each other for a flat quilt. Oh, yes, and then I had to decide, will I SID (stitch in ditch) in the lollypop blocks? That adds another dimension to the pressing because pressing against all those seam allowances is not near as easy as pressing towards the background fabric, but, I decided I wanted a defined line so I pressed towards the sashing and squares.

Here I have pieces hanging all around my room - even on the longarm bars. It is a fascinating quilt to me, though, and the colors and fabrics and very simple shapes are what drew me to it. Such easy needle-turn applique!!

Here are some blocks displayed as they are being sewn together. Maybe in a week I'll have the top completed, but I'm going to need a simple quilt project to work on for a while after this.

Baby Lollies and Cousin Quilt

I'm still plugging along on my baby lollypops for the border of my Lollypop Trees quilt. Meanwhile, I have begun another fabulous applique quilt called Flower Pots by Kim McLean. Just rush over to GloriousColor.com to view the pattern! I've gone ahead and traced all my pattern pieces, made the freezer paper patterns and begun ironing the freezer paper to the gorgeous mostly Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

Here is a another sweet baby quilt for Cylus' cousin. He's not yet born but we know he'll love having a similar quilt to Cylus.

And here is the back of the Monkeys quilt. It's always fun to add something interesting on the back of a quilt and it often saves fabric, too.

Baby Lollypops and Family Photos

Here are a few more of the border baby lollypops for my Lollypop Trees applique quilt. I am out of applique now. I need to prepare some more blocks.
Sondra and Rich came to visit last week and we got a 'family photo' while they were here. So nice to get to see them again since they live so far away now.
Patsi, my sister, came for a visit also! Great photo of her and Sondra.

Baby Lollypop Blocks & Bindings

I was able to get four of the little lollypop blocks made this week which will be in the border of my Lollypop Trees quilt. They go so quickly compared to the large 18" center blocks. These are going to finish about 5" x 8". The quilt can be viewed at Glorious Color.

Now here is a shoebox container filled with leftover bindings from previous quilts. I always like to be sure I have enough binding and save the pieces for scrap or charity quilts. Wonder if I could make enough charity quilts this year to use it all up? We'll see. I'm NEVER at a loss for ideas or projects to work on!! Have a beautiful week. I think the sun is finally shining here in beautiful Oxford, Georgia after a rainy weekend.

More Lollypop Trees

Here are some more of my lollypop tree blocks. Above is Block 3. I don't think I would have ever thought of putting some of these fabrics together but it does help to see combinations that are pleasing to my eyes and make me realize that I could do it with a blank slate. In fact, Ille and I have chosen many on our own because the photos were not too clear to even see what was used or we did not have that fabric available to us.

This was our first block, Block 1, above. And, even though we have sorted through many fabrics together, we each bring our own touch to the finished blocks, since we live in different cities. We are working together yet independently.

This next block is Block 11 - one of two predominantly blue blocks.

And last to show for today, Block 13.

Now I must get back to my quilted tablecloth which is being made with the Turning Twenty Again pattern, only using nine blocks and a border. It is being made with Valori Wells floral fabrics that I purchased sometime ago. I think they have aged long enough in my closet that I can finally use them!! BG

Lollypops, Lollypops, Lifesaver Lollypops!

Wasn't there a commercial for Lifesaver Lollypops a few years ago? It seems to ring in my head when I type lollypops. My friend, Ille Waters and I decided to take on a giant applique project a little over a year ago. It is available at Glorious Color and is called Lollypop Trees by Kim McLean. It is mostly using Kaffe Fassett fabrics which we really like and we have done a lot of examining the pictures to make ours look very close to the designer's quilt. This is 'Block 8', according to our numbering, but we've skipped around so actually I have 9 completed! Over half........however there are many little blocks in the border with applique, too.

I do not hurry my applique by hand. I just take it stitch by stitch, relax in my chair with my Ott light beaming down on my work. Sondra had a lapboard she was giving away after college and I took it and it has been wonderful for when I do applique to give me a little table.

Just wanted to share this block.............many many circles. I love all the different fabrics and colors coming together!