Springtime Table Topper

I guess the groundhog was right, Spring is coming early this year!  For the past week, we’ve been having 60 degree weather – perfect for going outside and sewing!  Here’s a cute Springtime Table Topper I made from a Kansas Trouble Quilter’s pattern in celebration of Spring.

This is fusible applique, which is a lot faster than other types of applique.  With fusible applique, you trace the shapes onto a fusible backing, cut them out, arrange them on the background, and then fuse them down with the iron.  The last step is to do a small zig-zag stitch around the edge of the applique pieces to secure them.  This is important because if you forget to sew them down, all the appliques will fall off when it is washed!

After I stitched down the appliques, I did “echo” quilting around the flowers.  “Echo” quilting is when you trace around the outline of the shapes in a continuous line until you get to the edge of the quilt.  In the middle of the quilt I did a simple spiral shape.  My machine quilting is not so great, so the spiral seemed like the easiest option.  After quilting, I used bias binding to finish it.

Keep it thimble!