X-Quisite

In 2003 or 2004, I saw Anita Grossman Solomon on Simply Quilts. I immediately went out and bought her book Make It Simpler Paper Piecing.  I'm not exaggerating when I tell you her techniques in that book changed my (quilting) life!

I rarely make a quilt exactly as it appears in a book. When I saw Hugs & Kisses by Marcella Peek in Anita's book, I couldn't wait to get started. The block is called X-quisite. The little squares finish at 2", but in Anita's world, you paper-piece a 6" 9-patch. (I know that won't make sense if you haven't seen it, so go check out this video.) She's a genius!

 

I had a small collection of reproduction 40's prints and just enough white on hand for the background. I changed the applique just a bit, adding the butterflies and smaller flowers, but you can see it is basically the same quilt, all the way to the scrappy binding. I'm guessing this quilt was finished in early 2004. (No label. Shame on me.)

When I finally took down the Christmas wall hanging from the kitchen wall, I put up this little beauty. It brightens up the room and makes me smile!  Every time I see Anita on TV or on the web, I learn something new. I'm now enrolled in her Craftsy class and I can't wait to get started on a new Anita quilt!