Forever Flowers - Wall Hanging #2

Some of you know that in December a co-worker of mine passed away.  It was sudden, shocking, and so very sad.  Brian was an amazing man, loved by so many people.  For his services they needed to use the high school gym and hundreds of people attended.  He was the office manager, and while at work he suffered a brain aneurism while talking with one of the secretaries.  She has sinced moved into his job and office.  I can't even begin to understand what a difficult decision it was for her.  I know when I walk down the hall I'm still adjusting from expecting to see his smiling face.  I wanted to do something for Tracy to help her personalize the space and celebrate her promotion. 

When I stepped into the sewing room to start picking out a design and fabrics this isn't what I had in mind.  I didn't have any specific ideas, but it wasn't this.  I'm so happy with the end result and I hope she will be to.  I just love the creative process, even if I still don't fully understand it.  :)

The wall hanging measures 16" x 16".  It's a 12" x 12" muslin center, a 1" (finished) inner border with corner stones, and a 3" (finished) outer border.  The flowers and vase are appliqued on, I added a strip on the vase and attached heart button embellishments.  I embellished the flower petals with crayon to add some color and placed a swarovski crystal in the centers.

For the quilting I started off intending to do a cross hatch, but finished the first direction and liked it so much I stopped there.  When I attached the binding I added a strip of ribbon for hanging.  When I held it up, the small quilt would bow a little ... but once hung against a wall it laid flat and proper.  Daryl suggested I add a zip tie inside the binding just where the ribbon is to give it a little rigidity just to be sure it wouldn't go wonky at some point.  Worked like a charm!

 ~ Enjoy ~