The Clearing at the end of the Fancy Forest.

I finally completed Elizabeth Hartman’s Fancy Forest. It was a bit of a marathon but if I am honest I enjoyed every bit of it.

I have never liked piecing, probably because I was never inspired by the resulting blocks that were mainly traditional in style. I make a lot of quilts but they need to interest me. I like appliqué because it paints pictures with fabric. Elizabeth Hartman patterns allow me to do that whilst at the same time nailing the art of piecing.

I used Boundless botanicals from Craftsy for the animals and I think the bright, clear, varied colours add to the design. I liked the colours on the original but I love mine.

Most people seem to do an overall pattern for the quilting but I decided I wanted to give it more of a custom look so I quilted leaves on the background and then went back and worked on each colour on each animal. Once I had decided what I was going to do I enjoyed it immensely.

A couple of owls.

Swirly Bunnies

Fireflies (or butterflies)

I thought with all those seams and all that to-ing and fro-ing I might have a problem with squaring up the finished quilt. I was wrong. It was perfect. Just straightened the edges and bound it.

It wouldn’t win any competitions but as I wouldn’t dream of entering one ever that is academic.

So if you were considering this pattern but are a bit frightened of it, don’t be. Organisation is the key- not forgetting an accurate quarter inch seam of course, but that applies to most piecing.

Which one shall I do next?

Happy Stitching.