Quiltingboard Forums - Jewel-Tone scrappy quilt with applique

I had so many beautiful materials in my bin, leftovers from previous quilts, and I decided to do something with them. My sister (for whom this is intended) and I saw a quilt that we liked, so I figured out a pattern and got busy. After sewing the top together, I added some ribbons and applique, then saw a you-tube video on how-to-ruche, which looked interesting. I added four flowers consisting of hand-made ruching, then quilted it free-hand on my Bernina 820. I've only recently started quilting without the aid of my BSR. However, my applique was the stickiest part for me; since I was appliqueing on a large top and not individual patches, I chose to initially do a single-line outline. As I was quilting and I saw how much they were fraying, I went back over them with the BSR set to a zig-zag stitch. This had the happy effect of showing the outline of the flowers and leaves on the back, but since the BSR only stitches in one direction and my flowers were circular, the stitching is not precise. But it did help. I'm learning with each quilt I finish, and the applique was a learning area for me in this quilt. But I loved doing this quilt; the bright colors gave me energy to work on it, and even my 15-year old son enjoyed sitting beside me as I pieced, placing the patches and the colors for me. Then he insisted on placing the patches on the floor as we laid them out; he really enjoyed the process of matching colors. All in all, this turned out much prettier than I dared hope, with all the colors of the rainbow!