Hearts and Apron Strings, A Re-Do

Ten years ago, a pattern ran in a series in Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, called "Hearts and Apron Strings".  The quilt is designed by Sharon Schamber.

My neighbor, Bonnie, and a few of her friends in the local quilt guild, made the quilt at the same time.  I have always loved Bonnie's quilt, and have wanted to make one like it.  Another lady in the group that made the quilt never quite finished hers, and when she heard that I liked it, she gave me her UFO.  

Here's the quilt:

I have been working on it this fall, and have removed the applique, which was machine buttonholed on,  and I re-appliqued by hand all of the tulips, birds, hearts, and the center Dresden plate, using my stash of 30s fabrics.  I think when the class was taken, there wasn't the softer applique backing available, and a cardboard stiff backing was used on the applique pieces.  But now there's no backing, and it's as soft as butter.

The second thing I changed was the pattern for the tulip leaves.  The original pattern has little tiny leaves, and I don't think of tulip leaves as being that little, so I drew my own leaves.  Since I was reworking all the applique, I thought - why not!  Here's the original pattern with the little leaves:

Here's one of the four corner applique sets before I put them on the quilt.  In the final version, I switched out the center bit of the purple tulip, as this piece was a little bright for the pastel look of the quilt.

I think the reason the quilt was not completed was the "T" squares - the next to the last border, didn't fit.  The blocks were various sizes, and when they were sewed together, the border was not the right length.   So, I took all of them apart, and sewed them back together again, making sure I was using an exact 1/4" seam, and now the "T" blocks are all the same size.   Next, I'm ready to sew them into borders, and attach them to the quilt.  

Here's the quilt as it is tonight:

And the final two borders, ready to move on to complete this quilt top:

It was not too bad taking the "T" blocks apart, and now it should be smooth sailing until I get to binding the scalloped edges.  This is just one of the projects I have in the works, as I like to work on several things at a time.