Needle Turn Applique

Eight years ago my husband and I went to Hawaii for the first time and I fell in love - with needle turn applique quilts.

I saw so many beautiful quilts in shops, but they were all out of my budget at the time. I figured if I learned the technique I could make my own. So I purchased a book of patterns, and also bought a small pillow cover done in the traditional Hawaiian technique.

Then I went home and put my own spin on it. The choice of peach for the applique was made because I decided to hang it on my bedroom wall and our bedroom at the time was decorated in navy blue and peach (very 80's still in 2002). The floral border was to make it larger without adding an appliqued border because I was afraid I would never get it all finished. I didn't do the echo quilting around the applique, except for one row.

I loved doing the applique although it took me most of one winter to finish. And this little quilt hung in our bedroom until we moved found years ago. Since then it has lived in a closet in my sewing room. Now that I've taken it out to look at it, I think that I'll have to add more echo quilting around the design so that it looks completed.

Maybe I'll remove that ugly floral border too, and just bind the white edge. It will be smaller, but more in keeping with the traditional style. We'll see . . .