Valentine's Finale

Here is the Valentine's Quilt for 2010 in final form. It is all appliqued and uses Sassaman fabric from this season and last. It began with the black Sprigs heart trimmed with a bias edge of pink and red checked fabric. Then I fussy cut the periwinkle Fronds, also from the Sunshine & Shadow line, and placed them to radiate from the heart and finished the raw edges with satin stitch.

The heart looked too empty so I added some red birds cut from a rich hand dyed fabric. The edges are satin stitched to add some character. The little heart and the black and white background are made from  the Sassaman Dots that appear in new colors every season. The little blocks of satin stitch, the decorative spikes around the hearts and heavy thread in the ditch are quilting, so they are going through all three layers of the quilt and add extra texture, too.

I have grown very fond of this spikey decorative stitch which, in this case, adds to the slightly subversive "tatoo" motifs. Of course, the red roots or stems also lean in a decadent direction. Just couldn't resist!

There was still space to fill so I borrowed some cicadas from last season's Teasel and Lace fabric. I filled their bodies with another decorative quilting stitch and also quilted the background with radiating pink threads. This little project is my "thank you"gift to all the readers who visit this modest little blog. Thank you all for your patience, support and enthusiasm!