The Quilt

On pins and needles, here is The Quilt’s promised design. Please be generous to my animals, particularly poor Mister Fox, as I usually draw people or sprites. (Mister Fox, by the way, will be running completely inside the border in the finished product.)

Leaves and branches might be a bit different. I slapped on the darker green leaves after the rest was done because it looked a bit bare. I was thinking that maybe the trunks of the trees could be pieced in tans and browns. Would each tree look better as one piece, though? Hmm.
Also, I'll patchwork-piece the sun's center, not the orderly arrangement on the sketch.

Credit goes to Titi, for suggesting that the bird be a swallow. She also advised that the background under the appliqué be comprised of blocks of varying shades, which I will probably attempt. The berries in the corners (blueberry, red and black raspberries, and strawberries) should probably be arranged differently because they look silly, and, as always, I welcome suggestions. The berries and brambles will each be one piece of fabric; I will appliqué and add embroidered details on these by hand because they are smaller. The animals and other appliquéd objects will be stitched with a darker, complimentary shade (e.g. orange-ish fox stitched in red thread, gray squirrel/black thread, tan rabbit/brown thread, etc.). I’m going to attempt to machine-applique as much as possible, except for the more delicate embroidery. Final quilting, thanks to the Bernina, will be by machine!

Any comments and suggestions will be appreciated, duly noted, and perhaps even acted upon! I won’t start this in earnest until I go to my mother’s house in a month and a half. She has millions of boxes of fabric and nifty, quilting accessories, and I intend to take full advantage of them, slipping as many unseen into my suitcase as I can. If only her Bernina was collapsible….