Giant Dahlia Quilted

 

Here is my Giant Dahlia quilt finished, even the binding is on!!  The pattern is by Michelle Yeo Quilt Designs and included acrylic templates.  Here is a link to her shop.   My friend Desley sent me the pattern last January so we could both work on this quilt.  I know she is almost done piecing hers and has done a different layout with smaller Dahlia designs.  I’m looking forward to seeing how she quilts hers!

I used all Stonehenge fabrics for my quilt and added more background to the original pattern to make it larger.

I using a variety of techniques to quilt this quilt.  Free hand meandering feathers to fill the background, straight lines to create a leaf motif in each petal piece, curved ruler work in the lighter center petals and then added a secondary circle design in the second and fifth petals to echo the outer circle.  Seven thread changes of So Fine thread and I used Quilter’s Dream Blend batting.

When I was piecing this quilt I had trouble with the very center….where 16 seams intersect!  I’ll even share a picture. I couldn’t get all the seams to meet in the center, there was too much bulk no matter which way I pressed it.

So I decided to appliqué a circle of the same fabric over top to be the center of the Dahlia, then I trimmed off the bulk from the center under the appliqué.

Hard to believe December is half over but I’ve put a good dent into my UFO’s.  I just loaded my Judy Nieymeyer’s Island Sunrise quilt and hope to finish that one by Friday before the boys start their two week xmas break.