Finishing up a quilt leaves me with such a happy feeling, especially when it is loved in the home.  My husband declares this quilt his favorite, with the deep fall colors and cozy flannel backing.

This quilt-a-long taught me a lot about color and fabric selection.  I was more brave adding the bright green to the pie block, or adding the bright yellow to the leaf block.  They were not in my original fabric pull.  Yet they add a nice pop to the overall quilt.

I did quite a bit of FMQ as well on this quilt.  I started by following along the fabric, for example, the pumpkins in the barn, or the leaves in the acorn.  As I got into a rhythm, I was able to do more free form FMQ as in the owl, or the sky around the barn.  It was really fun to do but I had to stop at some point so I could get this over the finish line.  There are so many other places heavier quilting could work.

I used metallic thread on the pears and the pie dish, which added another layer of texture and fun to the blocks.

I then used up all my leftover HSTs which I had made as I stitched corners on the acorn, basket and turkey block.  I used the 8 at a time method to make a few more, in order to have enough for my maple tree.  I call it a maple tree – after trying a hand at paper piecing, the resulting paper pieced block gave me a whole new appreciation for pattern designers (that block is not shown here).  I ended up seeing this tree quilt at the Ironstone Quilt Fair in Arnold a few weeks ago, so after my paper piecing fiasco, I bought the pattern and whipped this up with my HSTs.  It is the Harvest Apple pattern by Material Girlfriends.

I decided to use flannel on the back as it seemed more fitting for a fall quilt.  Other than it is still 70 degrees here in California, it was a great idea!  It makes the quilt so much warmer and cozy than my others with quilting cotton.

I bound it with black binding with gourds and pumpkins, adding to the fall theme.

I’m now feeling the need to find some quick quilt patterns to knock out a quilt or two to be donated to the families who lost their homes in the recent California fires so they also have something cozy to cuddle in as they face rebuilding their homes after so much destruction.  My heart is breaking for them. I have one more WIP for Mercy Hospital then on to these.