'Le Jardin' Quilt... some progress!

Hello, today I thought I would share with you the progress I have made on my 'Le Jardin' Quilt. (A free pattern designed and shared by Bronwyn Hayes of Red Brolly designs).  Since you last saw it  I have added the borders. These included some appliqued heart designs in the corner squares.

I did not follow the finishing instructions to the letter, as I did not add the ric rac embellishment suggested and, I only appliqued one heart shape in each of the corners. Instead of adding the second appliqued heart, I added a small embroidered flower to each of the heart shapes.

Next, I cut a piece of backing fabric and some batting and was ready to baste the three quilt layers together.  This time, instead of pinning with safety pins, tacking with my tack gun or sewing lines of basting stitches, I decided to use individual stitches (like the tailor tacks used in dress making) placed here and there to hold the layers together for quilting. They were easy to put in and, I think they may be easier to take out once the quilt is finished and I love saving time when I can! I'll let you know how they work out!

I then quilted in the ditch between the pieces of the individual blocks.  I carried the straight lines of quilting out to the edge of the border pieces.  I didn't over quilt it as I did not want to spoil the embroidered panels.  I am happy with it so far.

Next I need to choose some fabric and cut strips for binding it. When the binding is finished, all the tacks have been removed and the threads are tidied up, I am also going to add a few buttons here and there.  Hopefully it won't be too long now before it is finished!!