Quilt Reveal: African Garden

 

I finished the quilt formerly known as Tuxedo Vest. Since the name is based on the fabrics on what is now the background, I am changing the name to African Garden to refer to the applique which is now the focal point.

This was the quilt as I left it in 2021. It was supposed to be a simple baby quilt, but I don't know anyone who would want it as a baby quilt. I thought about keeping it, but I would need a lap quilt so my original plan was to add more columns and make it larger. But it didn't motivate me to continue.

When I finished the Portraits quilt and listed the chart that I include every time I start or finish a quilt, I realized that I needed to get some more finishes in order to meet my very easy goal of finishing more quilts than I start.

 

I pulled out the Tuxedo Vest quilt but kept it in my bedroom until I was ready to work on it in an effort to keep the sewing studio clean for the YouTube videos.

 

I bought a bunch of African fabrics and put them in the same staging area in my bedroom until I was ready to film them. Placing them together like that with the Tuxedo Vest quilt gave me the idea that I could use them to applique on the quilt.

 

I was originally thinking of adding just one or two motifs  to help the floral fabric and the stripe fabric work better together. I cut out a bunch of motifs to try them out on the quilt,  and I couldn't reject any of them, so I used all of the ones I cut.

I used my general technique to combine the applique and the quilting. I secured the edges of the appliue and then stippled the background.

 I tried to add a piece from an older quilt, but they are shiny, and I decided to use this piece from the stash of fabrics.  I think I have used some of the background fabric in another quilt so the continuity is there, and I can use scraps of this quilt in another quilt.

 

I made a YouTube video about the process if you are interested in seeing that.

I've made a lot of quilts this year but I need to finish at least one more to meet my goal of finishing more quilts than I start. One thing about keeping records, I know it is not a record year in terms of started or finished quilts.