Retro Flowers {A quilty finish}

I'm so excited to be writing this post! I spent the last three evenings hand stitching the binding down (yes, I'm that slow) and managed to get a few photos taken today. So you get to see her in all her glory :o) A warning too - this is a veeeery long post!

This is probably going to sound incredibly smug, but I am so, so happy with how this quilt finished up. I've learnt a huge amount while making it too, which is always a huge bonus. I started this quilt back in April last year as part of the Retro Flowers QAL, so it's spent a lot of time languishing in a plastic tub while I worked on other projects, only being pulled out occasionally for a bit of piecing or trimming. But then a few weeks ago I pulled it out determined to finish it, and I'm so glad I did! I love it! It probably helps that Good Folks is the prettiest fabric line ever ;o)

It was my first foray into curved piecing and my first time trying some pretty epic custom quilting on a project - free-form feathers around the borders and triple stitched lines around all the flowers and feathers (inspired by the amazingly talented Lisa, one of my quilty heros). One big thing I found when piecing it was my seams matched much, much better when I didn't pin - I have no idea why, but there you go!

This quilt is entirely pieced and quilted with Aurifil 50wt in colour 2021 (my go-to thread). When I was quilting it there was a LOT of travel stitching over where I'd already stitched - in some cases four or five times - and the thread didn't break once. I used a lot of thread on this one - it's a 60" square quilt and I think I went through about 12 bobbins. And the quilting took around 25 hours. It was worth every minute.

When I stitched the feathers around the border I left a gap on two of the sides - I think these spots are probably my favorite of the whole quilt.

The back is also mostly Good Folks. The main piece (Small Gathering) is such a large scale print, it works really well as a quilt back. I actually like the back as much as the front, even if I didn't centre it very well ;o)

The quilting has shown up beautifully on the back. I have to say I'm a bit in love with the hand stitched binding too - I think I might be a convert.

Thanks for all your lovely words of encouragement along the way with this one (and for putting up with my many posts while making it). I appreciate every single comment I get.

Quilt Stats:

Design - Retro Flowers pattern by the Sometimes Crafter
Fabric - Good Folks by Anna Maria Horner, and Kona PFD
Quilting - by myself on my domestic Bernina
Thread - Aurifil 50wt 2021

This quilt is on my FAL quarter two list, my second finish this quarter!

It's also my May goal for ALYOF. 

xx Jess

Linking up to Let's Get Acquainted, Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story, TGIFF and Free Motion Friday :o)