Finishing out 2020 with applique

 Several months ago one of my quilty cousins contacted me to tell me she was thinning her stash. I have 2 close cousins-in-law that quilt that I call quilty cousins.  Anyway since this particular cousin used to work & teach at a quilt shop I of course wanted to see what she was getting rid of - I knew it would be nice fabric.  Among other things, I bought this stash of reds that are definitely NOT in my usual bright/bold fabric style, but my stash is pretty thin on reds so I figured I would use them eventually.  

I started looking at how pretty they were together and decided to make something for my dear daughter who loves red.  And since I was itching to do some applique, I'd include some applique in the center of the quilt.  I wasn't exactly sure where I was going with this other than I knew I wanted some applique and some piecing, kind of country looking from the plaids.  So this quilt literally grew as it went along.  The applique patterns are from Aunt Millie's Garden by Piece O Cake designs.  It was fun to watch how this worked out, mixing a bit of this and a bit of that.  I am very pleased how it came out, and in time for Christmas.  Notice the pieced hearts on the sides - appropriate for my sweet daughter.

One additional note, I had really enjoyed the applique pattern & Piece O Cake's method of applique so I decided to email Becky Goldsmith and let her know.  And she replied, very nice reply.  And put me on her own blog - see the Feb 14, 2021 post.  Cool!