Happy Valentine's Day, My Deer!

Okay, so I admit I'm not the best gift-giver. I struggle to find clever and thoughtful gifts for Eric. How do I know what kind of hunting-, pilot-, or veterinary-gear are cool and useful!? If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears!

For now, though, in honor of Valentine's Day, he's getting a gift from the heart. I don't know if he'll really enjoy it, but I sure enjoyed making it!

This was a printed quilt top from Pattern Jam. I purchased the "large throw" size (50"x63"), for $59 USD, which (if I'm JUST thinking of it as "fabric") seems pretty expensive. But if I think about it as a "quilt top" - one that has a really cool faux-applique pattern that I didn't have to cut or piece???? Well - what a deal! What can I say? I'm a quilter. I don't really even like piecing anymore!

I did kinda try to use my quilting choices to make it look like it was really appliqued and pieced, and I don't think the average person would notice at all. Stitched in the ditch around each deer head. Also free-handed an echo around the inside of each head. Then used a variety of fillers in each of the 12 squares. This was fun and energizing for me to work on. A real breath of fresh air.

My quilting is all free-motion, hand-guided on an APQS longarm quilting machine.

Paisley filler in background.

Cross-hatching in left square. Orange peel in right square. Used existing grids in the fabric, instead of taking the time to mark with pen.

Woodgrain in background.

Diagonal lines with serpentine between every other one.

Parallel lines in background, using existing pattern lines in the fabric, rather than marking.

Pearls (pebbles) on a string in background.

I had to mark a grid with water-soluble pen in this background, and then used serpentine pattern in every other square.

My "deer" Valentines!