Basket full of wishes

Hi, welcome to Lakumuki if it is your first time visiting here ( ' v ' )
It is exciting to be part of Blogger's quilt festival with my quilt "Basket full of wishes". It is a wedding present for a friend. I've been working on this quilt for almost a year and only just finished it.

 My idea was to fill the baskets with special treats for the bride and groom while creating a fun story around each basket block. I hope this quilt will bring lots of smiles and happiness to the newly married couple.

After piecing the basket blocks, I added layers of little pieces to them using Machine Appliqué technique. I took my time to play around with various arrangements for each basket. Often times when I felt a basket is missing something, I put it aside and moved on to the next block. Later I would come across a cute mouse or a curious bug lurking among the fabrics and I would go back to fill those gaps. It's been a slow process but a very satisfying one.

I posted a tutorial here detailing the steps I followed. It is really fun and easy to do if you like to try :)

When putting the quilt top together, I alternated the baskets with a plain block and arranged them in a diagonal setting. The white space surrounding the baskets was like a blank canvas inviting me to add little flowers, flying birds, hearts, music notes, colorful balloons.. anything I could think of to make the quilt more cheerful and lively. I had lot of fun thinking about what kind of text to add next to the critters to give them unique personalities.

There are 42 baskets in this quilt each one telling a story of its own. If you like to take a closer look at individual baskets, please visit my Flickr or earlier blog posts here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, borders.

The quilt was too big to machine quilt at home, so I contemplated hand quilting it. But I couldn't wait too long to finish it as this quilt has been eagerly waiting to go to it's new home. Then I came to know about Emily @ Emerson quilting through Tamiko's blog. Emily did an amazing job with the quilt and finished it in a very short time!

I suggested simple crisscrossing lines with soft curves to give it a feeling of sweet dream or a soft breeze. I also requested for a batting with thin loft. Emily quilted around the appliqué pieces to make them more noticeable. It looks very organic and clean like I was envisioning. Emily is incredibly creative and dedicated. I am so thankful to her for the efforts and thought she has put into this quilt. She shares a sampling of her gorgeous work on her blog.

For binding, I picked this cute Minny muu print by Lecien. It has tiny mice scampering around with cheese! I love that this shade of green gives a freshness to the quilt and also ties in with the theme of treats!

And for the backing I felt this bold and whimsical yellow print provides a good contrast to the delicateness of the front while adding some weight to the sea of white in the quilt.

I chose fabrics from Apple Pie collection by Sandy Klop for the baskets and backing, as my friend loves bright sunshiny colors. They suit her perfectly! It is an older collection by Moda from four years ago.

Quilt Festival stats:

Quilt size is 93" * 108"
Special Techniques used: Machine appliqué
Quilted by Emily Sessions

We took these pictures at Arnold Arboretum in Boston like most of my other quilt pictures. It is a breathtakingly beautiful landscape to visit if you are ever in town ( * u * )

Thank you so much for taking the time to look at my quilt! I enjoyed going back in time to share my experience of making of this quilt with you.
Also a huge Thank you to Amy for this wonderful opportunity to see so many beautiful quilts!!

Have a great weekend!