Bittersweet Quilt

Ages ago, I picked up a big stack of embroidered panels. The centre panel needed some lines of stitching, and I planned to use my machine and a twin needle to complete those. There is a lot of sadness surrounding these panels (the previous owners story is sad), and I want to make them into something beautiful and most importantly, happy. The panels already have the batting in place within the embroidery, I think the original design was a QAYG design, although the pieces don’t have any backing. I used a MSQ method, that puts the backing on and joins in one go. https://quiltingtutorials.com/tutorial/how-to-quilt-as-you-go-any-block On my sewing forums, a lot of the suggestions were for a vintage type fabric to join these blocks. The original quilt design had the blocks edged with a bottle green peeper, and then sashed with a bright yellow/gold fabric. Let me tell you now, those two colours together? I seriously do not like either. I was following the destash site, looking for an alternative, when a seller put up a beautiful antique rose fabric, in muted shades of beige/pink/blue; suitably vintage style. I thought it was great, but asked her advice just to be sure. She said it was lovely, but suggested modern instead. The backing only shows in 1/2in strips on the front, but the colours just seem to pop! I followed the same method used for the sashing/joins, on the edge binding. Originally I was going to bind in a solid colour, but felt that would over-complicate the design. I haven’t attached a label yet, but I will probably break my own rules and handsew that in place later. She is all finished now, and ready to be a useful item in our household. I am trying to decide if she will be a big couch quilt, or perhaps on the spare bed. Bittersweet – completed by Dani, April 2018.