Charlotte's Wool Applique

Charlotte made this adorable wool applique quilt at class at Addie's quilt shop in Cochrane

When I asked Charlotte what she wanted on this quilt, she wasn't really sure, so then I asked what her budget was, and she gave me freedom to do what I wanted, staying within that budget.

I started with outline stitching the wool appliques, using a new to me method of adding a hunk of fabric to the top of the quilt as a weight, which gives better control of the head movement, and then stitching without a ruler.  I learned this from Margaret Solomon Gunn and really liked this method.  Follow the link to see Margaret's video.    I will do it again.

Unlike Katherine's recent quilt where the applique was all evenly spaced and we decided to not quilt behind the applique, there were spaces on this quilt too large to leave unquilted, so I started on some background fills.

Hopefully you can see in the above photo how the background fills make the applique pop.

 I had fun with different shapes, and different thread colors in different areas of the quilt---a green greek-key type (or paving stones if you're fanciful) on the bottom 

 Some ribbon candy 'pathways' between the flower beds

 Meandering 'lawn' behind the lower parts of the trees, and 'gentle breeze' curls in a pale blue thread behind the branches. 

 And the wind got stronger as we gained alititude-- flowing swirls. 

I had a lot of fun quilting this one.  Thanks Charlotte, for giving me freedom to unleash the whimsical.