ALYof F Jan: Story Quilt Finish

As described here  I set out to quilt, bind and embellish my Anniv. Story Quilt for my Jan. ALYofF goal. Here it is, finished & hung in it's new home on a wall in our Master Bedroom.
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I was kinda unsure how to quilt an applique top. Yet, since I chose that this is going to be the year that I quiet my inner critic and play more with my quilt projects, I just started. I learned two major things while quilting this project: 1. I have  A LOT to learn. 2. Quilting is pretty forgiving! I was inspired to create a collage while visiting Karen's Blog: Laugh Yourself Into Stitches. of a few close-ups that show how I was able to use quilting to personalize and add whimsy to this finish:

1. These are original wedding rings. We both love that they are a part of the quilt. 
2. I had so much quilting this "action swirl" of me metaphorically "throwing my books out the window". See I was in my last semester of school before student teacher, and well, we used the $500.00 I would have bought my textbooks with to buy our wedding rings. (Let's just say I spent many hours at the library using their class copy...oh life before the internet!) 
3. "Our Song" is Together Forever by Rick Astley. I had fun quilting all those little music notes. I used Purple Chimp Print & Iron Cotton Fabric Sheets and literally copied our original cassette tape! I was able to just iron the "cassette tape" right onto the quilt. I used iron-on letters for the words.
4. Having grown up in Arizona, we loved our sunset picnics. I had fun quilting swirls in a variegated thread on the the sun.
5. Our picnic basket, filled with champagne, port-wine cheese, and those ol' big jugs of cheap wine was a staple item in my husband's Nissan King Cab. I quilted "Bubby", "Wine" and "Picnic" on these. I also like the "floppy" red checkered tablecloth peeking out of the basket. (We still have this picnic basket and that is a champagne cork saved from one of our first dates!!)  I quilted the bed of the truck in hopes to add some density and dimension.
6. The little "Mile Post" sign: I put heart eyelets on it  before quilting. I sewed the words using a lettering feature on my viking machine. I used a variegated brown thread to quilt a "woodgrain design" on the post. (I quilted the larger sign the same way. This "Road Sign" details all our weekend get-aways during our days of dating.)
7. I couldn't resist quilted bubbles coming out of the champagne bottle. (I think you can see the "Bubbly" word a little better in this picture.)
8. My favorite: quilted and button hearts dancing out of the tail pipe. I also quilted hearts on the bumper!
9. The tires: I quilted a 1/4 inch spiral  and found these cute metal pieces in my "left-over" scrapbooking supplies! I love that they say: happiness and friendship.

Many thread changes later, this is definitely a "lovely finish" for me!

I love that it now hangs in our master bedroom, behind our favorite cozy chair that often finds me cuddled up, making hexagons, watching TV or quietly reading a book. 

And yes, my quilt finish pictures never seem complete without Jackson lately.

With smiles!
Val:)
Click to check out everyone else's January Finishes: