Flourish of Fruit

In April, during our series on machine quilting, we looked at an example of the machine quilting design process. I showed you a quilt top with a wreath made from two of the same swags that were used in the borders of Flourish on the Vine. We considered our options for quilting and came up with the following plan:

Here is the completed quilt, Flourish of Fruit.

Designing the swags for the borders of my quilt Flourish on the Vine has been the single greatest challenge in my creative life to date. You can read the whole story in Border Swags Part 1 and Part 2. In the end, I decided to appliqué each patch in the swag onto a muslin background, leaving the outside edges just basted.

When the appliqué and embroidery were complete, I removed the basting thread and trimmed the muslin along the outside edges of the swag.  I now had a complete unit to appliqué onto the border strips.

This was the same process I used to create the wall quilt Flourish of Fruit. Two swags were appliquéd onto the background so that they faced each other and touched at the outer tips.

A swirly vine-like fabric was used for the borders and the one-inch clamshell decorative edge finish. If you would like to make this quilt, or add fruit swags to your own design, the pattern will be available December 12, 2012. Visit C&T Publishing or check my web store for ordering information.