My Turn: Windham Fabrics FIRST BLUSH Blog Hop & Giveaway!

Hello Friends, here it is — my turn sharing my First Blush hop project — Softie’s Posies.  But first, a bit of background story on Softie. My favorite book (absolute favorite) from growing up is the Enchanted Wood/Faraway Tree trilogy written by a British author Enid Blyton!  The same trilogy has become extra special because I can trace Miss Baby reading independently to this very trilogy!  I started reading a chapter a day to her when she was about 5.  The story was so captivating that she asked for more.  I told her if she wanted more, she could read for herself the following chapters to find out what happened in the story.  And so she did!!!  And since then, she has been a most avid and self-motivated reader with a huge appetite of learning.  I have even caught her reading WHILE practicing her violin!!! Needless to say, we have quite a few Enid Blyton’s books at our house.

I had shown you a little sneaky peek of Softie the Squirrel at his dress fitting.  He wanted a red jacket, and so, I tried my best to come up with a fashionable one for him.  Well you see, in the Enchanted Wood/Faraway Tree stories, there is a squirrel who wears an old red jacket who waits at the foot of the Faraway Tree to retrieve the cushions used by the riders of a “slippery slip” within the tree.  And after many adventures, he finally had a new red jacket for himself.  Miss Baby and I always had a soft spot for that squirrel, and she named him Softie!

I thought Windham’s First Blush fabrics would be perfect to make a little “story” quilt for Softie!

Photo credit: Grey Dogwood Studio

Softie liked the check jacket and red solid sleeve.  In the end, he also requested a red pocket to go with his jacket to store his acorns.  I used the applique method mentioned here and here.

Then, I took one of the floral prints, and did fusible broiderie perse with the individual floral sprigs.  Instead of falling leaves, we have falling autumn blossoms!

With that, and the borders, we have this!

Here is the close-up showing the quilting — feathers and cinnamon rolls!  Notice I used a light pink to quilt on the white in the quilt center.  I have become a firm believer in subtle contrast quilting so that I can use the other pretty shades of threads out there. Click here to learn more about my favorite subtle shades of Aurifil threads.

I hope you have liked Softie’s Posies.  Some of you might ask for the pattern… well, there’s no pattern for this for now.  It might be part of something bigger.  I am not sure yet, but it is definitely a possibility!

First Blush fabrics are shipping this month.  You can purchase the fabrics here.

Now, the giveaway!  For each day of the hop, Windham Fabrics will give away a fat quarter bundle of the collection. along with a coordinating small thread box of First Blush from Aurifil for each stop of the blog tour.  Leave a comment between now and next Tuesday, and I will pick a winner each for the fabrics and threads.  Winners will be announced by the end of next week.

In case you haven’t seen the schedule:

October 10 – Chris Dodsley, Made by Chrissie D
October 11 – Sinta at Pink Pincushion
October 12 –  Fat Quarter Shop
October 13- Windham/Two Blondes and a Sewing Machine
October 14- Jennie at Clover and Violet
October 15- Aurifil- Erin Sampson
October 16- Tina Egner
October 17 – Pretty By Hand
October 18 – Allison Harris
October 19 – Erin Cox
October 20 – Angie Wilson Gnome Angel
October 21 – Debbie at happy little cottage
October 22 – Heidi Staples
October 23 – Leanne Elliott
October 24- Greg Jones Grey Dogwood Studio – me!
October 25- Wendy Sheppard Ivory Spring
October 26 – Stephanie Lynn Denton
October 27 – Lisa Ruble