hand applique | Quilt Obsession

It’s that time of year again, when Amy at Amy’s Creative Side is hosting the Bloggers’ Quilt Festival. There are all sorts of beautiful quilts entered — lots of eye candy and tons of inspiration.

I decided to show the first applique quilt I made. It was all done by hand — the piecing, applique and quilting. Each plate has 20 blades, and looking at it now I realize that it has to be the scrappiest of the quilts I’ve made. In it are some novelty prints, batiks, ’30s repros, checks, stripes and florals.

That was the first time I used a fusible batting and I remember the day I basted it — we vacuumed and vacuumed the living room carpet, laid out the backing, batting and the top and then out came the iron. It seemed like it took next to no time and the quilt was ready to quilt.

There’s something about Dresden Plate variations that I always seem to have been drawn to. Not only have I made this one, but also Ferris Wheel (which is about to be quilted), the new one I’ve started and showed yesterday and yet another which is in the planning stages.

Now I think I’ll spend a lot of time over the next few days looking at all the gorgeous quilts being shown. This has to be the best way to go to a great quilt show — no travelling, no line ups, no trying to get a good view. Just click on the links and you’re there.

Smudge continues to improve. Here he was reaching for the toy basket in typical Smudge fashion. He’s a very laid-back cat!