Maria's Quilt!

Maria had a lovely birthday yesterday, and, happily, the quilt was finished to give to her - with several hours to spare!

After my late panic about how it was looking all together, I am actually really pleased with it now.

It wouldn't be to everyone's tastes, but it has just the bright, whimsical, slightly crazy mix of fabrics look that I wanted for Maria!

I think changing that middle block was very important though, it looks really different now...

And I think the whole quilt works together so much better because of it.

Although I do like the 'on the surface' look of this quilt, that's only part of the story with it. The more important part is hidden away deeper into the quilt.

It was constructed from 15 largeish blocks, and each of these blocks has a hidden picture or cute creature or message, each one particular or personal to Maria. They've all been part of a blog post along the way, so I won't show you all of them again, but just a quick sample of them. Ten are hidden away in lift the flap blocks. This one, for example...

Hides a mermaid, with the obligatory rainbow tail of course!

Or this one...

From a drawing Maria did.

Or one more...

Of the remaining hidden pictures/creatures/messages, four are in a 'pocket in a block', along these lines...

A bee buzzing out of this pocket to visit the neighbouring flower garden, tucked up under a flap.

 And one is in an envelope in a block...

  

Maria has had lots of fun exploring these different elements, and whenever she drags the quilt around with her (happening quite a bit at the moment!), it tinkles gently as the bell (inside the envelope block) jiggles around. It's the first tinkling quilt I've ever made!

For the binding, I did think about going scrappy, but there's just so much going on in the quilt that I decided the red and white spotty fabric all the way round might help bring it all together more.

And, again since there's so much going on in the front, I just used a bright, flowery, vintage sheet for the back.

Happily, it's a lovely flannelette one, so extra soft!

And, since it's Friday, I'm doing some linking up - over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Crazy Mom Quilts, and Chezzetcook Modern Quilts who's hosting TGIFF this week.

Have a great weekend,

Sally.