A Sunflower Quilt

Sunflower Quilt
Quilting By: Annette Rawlinson

I asked Annette if she could share some insight with me on some of her amazing quilts that she has made, and that she is currently making. She is the type of lady who will sew quilts (more than one at a time) and then give them away without any picture or record of her perfect creation. Yes, she is a perfectionist, which means that all of her work is absolutely gorgeous, inside and out. I'll be doing a spotlight on her work every now and again on my blog because she is so amazing!  When I asked her to tell me about her quilts she said,  "Oh boy. Can't I just quilt?" That's how much she loves it!

Annette made this sunflower quilt for her oldest daughter (Sadie) and here is what she has to say about her own work:

"Sadie's quilt. Well, Sadie loves sunflowers. One day many years ago, I came across this sunflower pattern and instantly thought of her. She wasn't a frilly, pink, ruffly type of girl at the time and so this seemed to fit her needs. I purchased the pattern and tucked it away waiting for inspiration on how to make it bigger to fit her bed, and what fabrics to use to make it more like her.  The pattern called for plaid backgrounds and that wasn't quite her either. Then one day I came across a fabric sale and saw these flannels and instantly knew that this was it for the sunflower quilt. So the fabric came home with me even though I still didn't know how to design the rest of the quilt to make it larger. I started sewing together the center part and gradually my mind started getting a feel for what I wanted.  With some suggestions from quilting friends, I started putting together the braid for the edges and then what I wanted to do with the actual quilting designs started coming to mind"

 "I couldn't make my pencil drawing of the sunflower quilting motif come together and Caren (another daughter) was watching me struggle, so she took my pencil and quickly drew the sunflower motif for me so I could see how to freehand the quilting in the border. The quilting of this quilt was a treat because I used a new bamboo batting that was SO nice to quilt on. It was so much fun to sew on a quilt that made me think of a wonderful daughter the whole time I was working on it.  All the attributes of this daughter were always at the front of my mind every step of the way. That's what makes it so much fun to do projects like this."

"Another fun part of this project came a few days later when,after learning how to do the braid, my husband was designing the mantle area of our new gas fireplace. He was trying to put some pieces of wood together for a design and couldn't figure out how to get all the wood slanted in the design and yet cut it straight in a rectangle. I was checking on his project and watched his hands shifting things around. Then it came to me, he was trying to do what I had just done in the braid for the border of Sadie's quilt! I shared my new info with him and now we have this wonderful design in the wood of our fireplace. Awesome! We all help each other succeed!"

Annette is a professional seamstress and tailor based in southern Utah County. She does immaculate work and can never seam to get enough sewing in her day. Annette Rawlinson can be reached by email at arb170@gmail.com