Cotton fabrics. Traditional and non-traditional appliqué. Machine-quilted, finished with facings.

Technical challenges:  Did this project in stages over several years, trying things I did not know how to do at each step. Stage 1 (2018) was the small center panel made with traditional freezer-paper appliqué and stitched with tiny needles. I wanted to learn this technique but have never used it since and probably never will again. Stage 2 (2019) was the middle section with strips surrounding the panel. Could have stopped there but was in that dangerous situation where I still had tons of scraps in all these fabrics. Stage 3 (2020) involved several false starts and finally resulted in the more randomly pieced side sections. In stage 4 (2021) I considered spending 10 minutes attaching the remaining leaves with fabric glue vs. 10 hours sewing them on vs. 10 days embroidering them. Glued them.

Take-aways:  (1) Never rush the last steps of a creative project. Is this an emergency? It is not. (2) A quilt with this much visual activity needs more planning and does not lend itself to build-as-you-go. The side sections are too structured for improv and too sloppy for standard block construction.  (3) I still like the color scheme and energy of this piece.