A sugar quilt reveal

... ta da! 

Hooray ... I can finally announce this beautiful quilt is now living with its new owner and I don't have to worry about accidentally giving the surprise away anymore :)  

                                                      

This magical quilt has traveled from the top to the bottom of Australia, and quite a few places in between, but has finally arrived at Lisa's home. Lisa and her daughter Sarah are the awesome creative force behind A Spoonful of Sugar designs . 
Lisa hasn't been well recently so Ali and Megan organised this quilt as a thank-you-for-all-your-amazingness gift. 

I confess I've never before had the opportunity to quilt a quilt top which has been pieced together by so many makers. Given that Megan's blog Dolly Henry never ever fails to inspire me, I had no doubts this adventure would be exciting. I m.a.y have given myself a few high fives while jumping up and down (so uncool!).                                                                                                                                                                            
The makers of the blocks were given guidelines regarding colours but the block designs were up to them. As the quilter of the project, it felt like wearing a blindfold and being given a box of gourmet chocolates!  

Sedef's pretty block was my first choice. It has lovely large blocks of sweet fabrics pieced together in several different directions. I decided to quilt closely spaced straight lines to emphasise the 90 degree piecing angles. The delightful texture this creates makes you want to keep running your hands over it ... so I did.

                                                       Terri-Anne's blocks also had quite simple piecing, but she embellished her patchwork with beautifully embroidered words. Terri-Anne's embroidery was the focal point for each, so I added frames of feathers to pull the eye towards the embroidery. Quilting on the underside of each embroidered letter helped give the words more visual impact as well as minimising the puffiness caused by the closely quilted feathers.                                                                                                                                      

                                     

Megan's second block also had embroidery. The quilting aim with this fresh, modern block was to ensure the embroidery stood out from the pieced background. Visions of a gaily wrapped parcel kept popping into my head so I decided to create a quilted "tag" for the word love, and quilt the "wrapping paper" heavily with swirls. The adorable embroidered kisses then became "ribbons" to tie the gift up with extra doses of love.

To make these exquisitely pieced stars by Peta  really twinkle against the linen background, I quilted ever-decreasing squares behind them. Eventually the concentric squares reveal the pinwheel in the centre.                           

Oh my goodness, how pretty is this bow! Michelle 's pink bow block has such beautifully pieced, clean lines that I didn't want to overwhelm it by adding lots of quilting. The quilting lines have been used only to outline the bow and provide a framework to showcase Michelle's embroidery.                  

 I could not wait to start quilting this delicious block, also pieced by Michelle. Free motion quilting gave the strawberry some seed-like texture, and help it stand out against the straight lines of freshly tilled soil. Michelle's block may have encouraged the consumption of a very large strawberry smoothie which may have been consumed after this block was quilted.    

 Quilting inspiration for Alisha 's block came v.e.r.y, v.e.r.y slowly. I waited and waited, until eventually a conversation with Alisha pointed to the Art Deco style influencing her design. That struck a chord with me as the block has quite simple, visual lines. Piecing it however would not have been quite so simple! 

 A ring of  full- blown, quilted roses surrounds the ring of hexagons Ange appliqued to her second gorgeous block. Ange very carefully fussy-cut pretty blooms in the centres of her hexagons, then set them against a lighter hued background, allowing for the heavy quilting I used to make the hexagon ring pop.    

Naglaa also used applique for her second block, but utilised a different technique called raw-edged applique. Quilting very close to the edge of the cut out cups outlines their shapes, as well as helping to keep the edges from fraying. I had oodles of quilting inspiration sitting right here in the block itself. One of the main aims for the quilting was to ensure Naglaa's beautifully embroidered words stood out against the linen background. Quilting open areas around the embroidery, then quilting the background heavily, helps achieve this. 

  How happy is Naglaa's block! It makes me feel good just looking at the photo :)                                         

And last, but not least, I'll leave you with some wise words from another talented lady, who must surely have been a quilter herself.  

                                                                                                "...... waters all our lives."

                                                                            "..........that make us so perfect for one another". 

But above all, stay calm my friends .......

xo

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