the Sour Pickle

This quilt was cut, sewn and pieced almost entirely while away on therapy trips for baby this fall. It's only fitting that my mom and I photographed it today, between baby's lessons, in Asheville. It's made with Rita of Red Pepper Quilt's pickle dish variation pattern. At first it was the "scrappy pickle" quilt in my mind, being cut entirely from scraps. It even includes scraps from my friend Stephanie, whom we stay with while in Chicago for therapy. But somewhere along the way I decided not to fight it... it's the sour pickle quilt, friends. One can't argue that 2015 has served up some very hard-to-swallow pickles.

And it seems quite fitting to gift it to my mom, who has been there for me through it all, and who doesn't expect me to sugar coat my grief and frustration. She's always been a fan of scrappy, colorful quilts, so this is the perfect one for her! I backed it in a Freespirit velveteen to make it as cozy as can be.

Isn't it some kind of magic the way a flimsy quilt top transforms into a cuddly quilt? I baste mine by first taping the backing to my wood floor. Then I layer up Warm & Natural batting and my quilt top, sticking all the layers together with 505 adhesive basting spray. I've been a die-hard fan of this basting spray for YEARS. Never went back to pins after I tried basting spray the very first time. No, it doesn't gunk up my machine. Yes, it does get on my floors, but it washes off easily (or just comes off on our socks!). Totally water soluble. No stains. Scentless. No worries.

The all-over velveteen backing gives my Sour Pickle quilt an extra weight and a lovely drape. The weight did make it harder to handle for quilting, but I muscled through a special pattern for my mama.

The pickle dish or birdlike spiky shapes on this quilt form interlocking rings. I free motion quilted dogwood blossoms around the rings and chrysanthemums in the spaces in between. And she seems to love it.. Yay!