Garden Quilt

My kids were off school yesterday and I had two flowery quilts to photograph, so we headed to the local public conservatory to take quilt photos (they were rewarded with lunch at IKEA and a trip through the car wash).  I thought it would be pretty deserted on a Monday morning, but I was wrong - it was full of people.  In fact, it was probably the busiest I've ever seen it!  I normally time my photos to when I know my favorite park will be empty, so I was a little self-conscious at first, but I got so many compliments from many different people that I felt comfortable fast.  It was a good reminder that I need to step out of my comfort zone sometimes!

The majority of these blocks were pieced from charm squares - the only requirement was that they had to have flowers (the four text squares are flower names)!  I made most of the blocks at my first quilt retreat, but had to stop because I didn't bring enough fabric with me - rookie mistake!  It then sat for almost a year until I made it my September goal to finish the top, which I accomplished at the last minute.  Then it sat again because I wanted to do a fancy back on it, which I finished over Christmas break.  All of the pieced blocks are from Farm Girl Vintage 2.  This quilt is a gift and the recipient enjoys biking as well as flowers, so the tandem bikes with flower baskets were an easy choice!

My sister-in-law was visiting and wanted to see how I baste and free-motion quilt my quilts, so we spent a snowy afternoon doing that after the back was done.  I decided to go with an all-over floral pattern to match the theme.  It was hard to get a good picture of this, but you can kind of see it on the flower in this close-up.  After I washed it the whole thing crinkled up and it's hard to see the pattern anyway.

This quilt is already on its way to its new owner.  I'm a little late for Christmas and too early for the recipient's birthday, but quilts rarely obey the calendar and I'd rather gift it while it's still quilt weather outside!