Finished Tree quilt

Yay! It's done, with time to spare! It will be hard to part with this baby.

I made this quilt to be auctioned off as a fundraiser at my 3 year old daughter's upcoming preschool Art Show. They have had different paintings and quilts auctioned off in the past and each year the students are represented on the piece. She goes to a wonderful Montessori preschool with about 65 kids, so I was a bit limited...larger things like hand prints or pictures wouldn't fit. The logo for the school has a tree on it, so I decided that was the ticket!

I had each child write their name on a leaf. I then raw edge appliqued the leaves to a tree on a piece of linen, along with some apples for the teachers ;)

I wrote the child's name on the leaf as well (for the younger kids), and added their age. I love how the raw edges of the leaves frayed up a bit after a washing, and will continue to do so!
I had a few leaves falling from the tree, with some spiral quilting, and more scattered on the ground.

Even the school resident pet, Oreo the rabbit, is represented on the quilt! I gave you a closer look at him here. A heart with the school initials was "carved" into the tree trunk.

I sashed this puppy with a thin line of espresso brown solid, and quilted some free motion loops here in matching thread. The outer border is a Moda Basic Grey green dot, which I quilted in a meandering pattern using white thread. Since the tree was so busy, I wanted the sashing and quilting to be more subdued and not distract from the Main Event.
In the center portion of the quilt, I actually added the leaves and apples as the final step, so the applique step provided the quilting as well! High Five for efficiency! This was also a smart decision as it took a while, between colds and vacations, to get the leaves in from all the kids, and I would never have finished in time otherwise! The rabbit and tree stump were appliqued with turned edges (which were then top stitched), so I quilted "bark" on the trunk afterwards. Wish I had used a contrasting thread as the knots and such are pretty groovy but are hard to see.

For the back, I chose Patti Young's Andalucia Mod Dots, which were perfect in color and design for continuing the leaf motif! Found it on "clearance" at my local Fabricland for $10/m (regular price $22/m- as IF!!). I added a couple small stripes with brown again for consistency with the front and to breakup the busy fabric. It was a great backing choice to hide all the different quilting on the front, plus such a happy, child-friendly pattern!

The binding is a bright orange with leaves on it, from my stash from the LQS. I decided to give Rita's tutorial a go and attempt some machine binding. I could write a novel about what I learned (translate: screwed up) during this process, but again the busy fabric of the sashing/binding/backing fabrics saved my hiney and I think none will be the wiser about its imperfections aside from me.
This is the first time I have made a quilt for someone who is not friends and family, and who actually paid money for it! This didn't hit me until I was in the trenches with the binding....I am hoping the (many) imperfections will be embraced as "adding character"! Also, I am glad that the format of the auction is not bids, but rather tickets that are drawn...so hopefully the quilt will bring in lots of money for the school in ticket sales while the actual winner will not have paid more than $20 for their ticket. Who can complain at that price, right? :-)

Quilt stats:

Materials: cotton (assorted prints from stash from Amy Butler, Joel Dewberry, Moda, etc; Moda Basic Grey Eva, Patty Young Mod Dots) and linen
Finished size: approx 60" by 70"- a generous lap quilt
Designed by: Me
Special Techniques: raw edged and turned applique
Quilted by : Me
Quilting pattern: loops, meandering, and applique through 3 layers
Binding: machine
Keeping it Real (a special section to confess all of my screw-ups!):
-I cut my backing too small, and in a couple spots it was smaller than the quilt top. I meant to trim back the top during the squaring up process to fix it but I guess I missed a small area, so initially the binding didn't cover all the batting on the back. Had to take off the binding and pull it farther back and restitch.
-When I did the machine binding, I missed about 20 small sections (an inch or less each) in the back that I had to go back and resew. Frequent pinning was a necessity, and by the last strip I had it down.
-My first pen I bought to have the kids write names bled in the fabric; Ms. Karen saved the day with a dollar store marker which washed up much better, though there was some marginal bleeding/fading.
-I have MUCH to learn about turned applique....

All in all it was a great experience, and to benefit a great school!
Linking up to Sew Modern Monday and Fabric Tuesday- go check them out!