So far our winter has been a roller coaster of too cold to comfortably warm days, clouds, sunshine, freezing rain, snow, rain, sleet, wind, and thunderstorms, and all that usually within a week’s time. Repeat weekly. I’m ready for spring and gardening!

Last year I planted sunflowers in the garden. Those big yellow blossoms can brighten even a cloudy day.

After repainting our kitchen/family room, it was time to replace a large quilted wallhanging whose color had almost faded away. I wanted to make a modern looking quilt with a sunflower design and planned to use my sunflower photos from the garden as inspiration.

Before making a pattern, I checked Etsy and found a pattern much like what I had in mind. The Sunflower Applique Quilt Pattern I purchased was designed by Jane Kakaley. You can check it out here. She has many beautiful quilt patterns to choose from.

The only problem was the pattern was designed for a 17″ X 23″ wallhanging and the space I needed to fill was 52″ x 52″. So I enlarged the pattern pieces and added some extra background panels to the sides to make the quilt the size I needed.

I hand appliquéd all of the sunflower, stem, and leaf pieces to the background layer. After pinning the batting and backing fabric to the appliquéd front, I used a variegated quilting thread to quilt the path of the bee all around the quilt. I also added fabric sleeves to the top of the quilt through which to slide the wooden holder.

The pattern suggested a bee button for the finished wallhanging. I decided to make my own button using polymer clay. That way I could make it the size needed to fit the scale of the quilt.

I enjoyed creating this beautiful wallhanging that brightens even the gloomy winter days. Just walking in the kitchen I am reminded that winter won’t last forever and soon the flowers will be blooming outside!

Thank you Jane Kakaley for designing a beautiful pattern!