Friday Finish! Wind Swept

It's Friday and I have a finish to share!! WOOHOO! Good thing I took pictures yesterday - it is pouring rain this morning - double WOOHOO :) We get excited about these things in the desert! And in case you are wondering, yes, we went bike riding in the rain this morning. It poured all the way down the mountain :)

OK, the maple leaf quilt? I'm tired of calling it that. So I named it Wind Swept. I thought it fitting as there doesn't seem to be much of a discernible plan in the layout :) I had mucho fun quilting this quilt! I initially was going to do some 'ghost' leaves in the negative space. And then I decided the quilt had enough leaves, it needs swirls and lines to get those leaves moving :) I used 11 bobbins of Glide 40 wt thread in light gray in this quilt. A multitude of various colors of Aurifil thread matching the leaves and Aurifil Salt and Pepper variegated for the negative space. I'm not going to apologize for the picture heavy post. Check it out! :)

The crinkle factor is seriously awesome!!! I kinda squealed when I took it out of the dryer :D

I did various spiral designs in the negative space. I'd get tired of one and do something else :)

I decided to do back and forth squiggle lines in the background fabric of the blocks. I think it works with the spirals to keep the eye moving.

I was a little worried about the amount of quilting I did in the leaves (too much.... who moi??) but when I pulled it out of the dry and saw how it crinkled - I was more than pleased!

I can't stop running my hands over those leaves!! :D

Yeah, I kind of had fun taking pictures of this one ;)

It was surprisingly hard to get a picture in which the quilting is visible on the back. I can assure you, it is visible! I used a wide backing for this one.

Detail shot. The quilting is a little more visible in this picture.

I decided to try laying it over the oleander bush. Kinda cool.

And one more. . . just cuz :D

Quilt Stats:
Size - Finished Flimsy - 61" x 73"; After quilting - 59" x 71"; after washing 56" x 58"
Batting - Quilter's Dream Wool. . . we don't even have to ask that question about my quilts - it's all I use. LOVE it.
Thread - Various weights and colors of Aurifil cotton. Glide gray on the back. I'm going to say that my machine doesn't like Glide. . . Every so often (it happened three times on this quilt) I'll get a good size thread blob on the back. No rhyme or reason as to why and not really any indication that anything is happening (no machine noise changes). It's the thread. I'm a good ways into quilting Nod to Gees and have not had this happen once with Aurifil in the bobbin.
Pattern - Hmmm. . . inspiration came from the many Modern Maples quilts around blogland. I decided to make 12" and 6" blocks for mine and then played around until I arrived at an arrangement that I liked.
Fabric - The leaves are all Handspray from RJR - this fabric is fabulous!! The background fabric is Quilter's Burlap in Pewter (Robert Kaufman). The backing is  Signature Collection Circles purchased from my new very favorite go to store for quilt backs - Back Side Fabric. Yvonne turned me on to this shop and I am in love! They ship FAST! I ordered Friday late morning, it shipped Saturday morning and I had the backing Monday morning!! Seriously gotta love that!! I may have gotten another order of wide quilt backs from there yesterday ;) Scrappy binding made from the Handspray fabrics used for the leaves.

This quilt is being boxed up and shipped off to my niece today :) I did a little inquiry about what colors she might like. . . I was told browns and blues, not a lot of color. . . oops :) There is a little blue and some brown in there! I'm pretty confident that she will like it ;)

I'll be updating you on the fabric painting and the quilting of Nod to Gees Bend in the next couple of days - I think I might just be on track for another Friday finish next week!!

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday! Have an awesome weekend and until next time keep on quilting!!