Finished UFO -" Primitive Seasons"

After finishing the Torah Cover Project, I decided it was time to work on a fun, easy quilt, before beginning my next commitment.  I pulled out a UFO (unfinished object) that I have really wanted to finish.  I have shared it before, when my hand dyed thread ran.  (I was able to remove the excess dye with IT color remover.  It also removed some of the blue color from the background fabric.)  It's a folk art depiction of the 4 seasons. I quilted the background before I appliqued the tree trunks.  The stems and leaves/buds of the willow trees are hand embroidered. 

The objects depicting the seasons are fused and then machine blanket stitched.

Although I love the sheep and the wagon filled with french knot flowers, my favorite is the chickens. 

I really wanted to add a top and bottom border to the quilt made up of quilt blocks. This would add to that folk art feeling.  I thought it would be quick and easy.  I spent a day and a half trying to get this to work.  This is the block that I made over and over in many different colorways.  I kept auditioning many fabrics - repros, clear colors, on and on.  Sometimes I find that I have to set aside some of my ideas.  It takes a while to let it go, but after a day and a half, I knew this wasn't going to work. 

Finally, after agonizing and pacing around my studio, an idea popped into my head. ( This is how it usually works for me - not usually in an expedient manner.)  I had a bin of finished wool pennies that I was going to make into a penny rug.  I think I made them about 2 or 3 years ago.  After a successful audition, I created a top border with a sun and 2 crows and called the quilt "Primitive Seasons". So my "quick and easy" took me 2 weeks, but it's not a UFO any more.

I really like the mixture of wool and cotton. It measures 50"wide x 32" high.  There has been so much interest in it that I am thinking about making it into a pattern.  This would encourage me to bring back my Mother Hen patterns that I really never marketed.  I put these together about 5 years ago.  All of the patterns were wool and I had kits for almost all of them. I'll have to dig out the pattern covers and do a blog post. 

This is all just too much fun, but I could use either more hours in a  day or an assistant!