Mystery Quilt completed for 21st

A niece had a 21st birthday this month. When I can, I make quilts for such occasions. I hadn't realised that this year was significant and it caught me on the hop. Luckily, I had a quilt top in my drawer which I had been wondering how to finish. 

It was a mystery quilt which I completed in 2013 and you last saw HERE. The above is the top before borders. I had added a really wide border because I thought it would be nice with some applique...

That didn't happen in the 18 months since I "finished" the mystery. The quilt was obviously waiting for the inspiration of Steph who is a funky girl who loves black and lime green. I bought some black batting, and this cool fabric to back it with and some variegated thread

Here's the full quilt top lying on the black batting :

I baste my quilts with a spray adhesive and then safety pin them around the edges. The white you can see underneath is an old sheet to protect my carpet from any overspray! I stitched with black thread near the coloured strips to keep the square shapes firm, and then free-motion quilted swirls around the stars - click on any photo to actually see the stitching detail.

I knew those four blank squares needed to be filled, so appliqued tapa flowers which worked very well

In the borders I quilted with the same swirly design but on a bigger scale

I love the effect of the variegated thread.

I did a simple label using a sharpie stained pen

and a handmade card which was easily completed from a base I recently shared

Here is the finished quilt. It looks even better if you click on the photo to enlarge it.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to deliver it personally but it was fun to finish with her in mind.