Door County Cherry Baskets

Happy Valentine’s Day!  I cannot think of a better day to reveal a quilt that I LOVE!!!!  A true labor of love!  I had the pleasure of quilting another one of Thelma’s – Cupcakes ‘n’ Daises– quilts.  Thelma is an amazing quilter.  Her quilts are beautifully pieced!!!  Door County Cherry Baskets is a gorgeous pattern by Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings.  So even when I am not quilting for Lisa…I am still quilting one of her designs!! LOL!  I have LONG admired this quilt, so I was very excited when Thelma decided to send it to me!!  Thelma had the patience of a saint, but I think I made it worth her wait. 🙂  Pull up a chair…I have quite the picture show in store for you all!!

GORGEOUS!  I had troubles trying to capture the whole quilt in a single photo.

I will let the photos speak for themselves.

The reproduction style of the quilt encouraged me to create a design that looked like an antique.  I remember telling Thelma that I had a vision for this quilt.  The top border of the quilt, I decided I would re-create the basket in the blocks with feathers to create a gorgeous motif in the corners of the quilt.

In the cherry basket blocks, I wanted the basket of cherries to pop and the background to stay in the background.  I quilted a basket weave style filler to do that.

The red “squares” between the cherry basket blocks were more challenging initially for me to come up with a design.  Again, I wanted to keep the quilting traditional with an antique quality.  I knew I would incorporate feathers.  I love how it came out!

I wasn’t convinced that I would carry out the design in all the blocks.  Mostly because I knew it would take a lot of time to quilt that design in each of those blocks.  Was I using my time efficiently?  There are A-LOT-O blocks in this quilt.  I may have mentioned that fact to LB a few times as I was quilting this. 🙂 Then Scott walked into my studio and went crazy for the design.  He noticed that a secondary design was emerging…the circle of feathers around each cherry block.  He was complimenting what a genius design it was.  I confessed that I hadn’t even realized it!!!  When I saw it (like a slap in the face), I knew at that moment, I didn’t care how long it would take me.  The quilt was as it should be.

The side setting triangles and corners have a simple yet striking design.

And lots of feathery plumes in those borders!!!

The back is beautiful.

The threads and texture look amazing.

The short list of specifics….double batting.  Dream Blend with a layer of Dream Cotton over it.  All So Fine Threads from Superior.  Red, cream and black.  I used my Fine Line Curved cross hatching ruler for the red blocks.  I also made my own templates out of card stock for the corner motifs and feather spines.

Yes, I also diagrammed a layout of the quilt.  This really helped me stay on track.  Plus, it was just plain fun to check off each row after I had quilted it!!!  It was like my little reward to have it all checked off by the time I had gotten to the end! LOL!!!

I have plenty of photos of my quilt process.  I did not include them in this post.  If there is enough interest, I can write a separate post documenting that.

Make sure you stop by Thelma blog today and read her post here.  If you are interested in Door County Cherry Baskets, it is in the book Summer Gatherings available at Primitive Gatherings here. Door County is the pattern Lisa has pictured at the top of her blog.

I know Thelma will cherish her quilt always.  It is always nice to know how much a quilt will be loved after I send it off because a piece of me goes home with it.