Grandmother's Flower Garden

First quilt

entirely handsewn over papers

finished 1995

Ready to go

I have spent the last week packing up ready to leave the UK winter behind for the sun and sand downunder. We're not just swapping houses but sewing machines so sorting out projects that don't require constant referrals to my stash has been a priority. My priority for the year is to finish UFO's (last year it was doing things for others - more later) so I have taken along quilts started in workshops: 4 cut out pansy blocks from Billie Lauder's "Bloomin' Beauties" class at Houston, Twisted Sisters strips from a workshop with Ami Simms at a Cabot Quilting Conference last year, Autumn blocks (adapted Judy Martin patterns) for a Forest collection of quilts to be shown at Hever Quilt Show in September and some Moda nickels for the Sand Castles design from Black Mountain quilts. This is very overdue as it was intended for a friend undergoing hospital treatment then to celebrate her recovery, then her 60th birthday and now her 6 ???? the birthday. I'm also going to plan a pattern for a magazine.
I'll post photos of each as I go along and also fill you in on my charity projects and the mystery quilt I did for my group last year. I won't show the latter straightaway as some other folk are just embarking on it so I'll them time to catch up.
There I've committed myself now! I'm hoping the blog will help me focus and meet self imposed deadlines.
In the meantime here is a photo of my first quilt, 14 years in the making, for my tiny daughter (she's 26 now); by the time it was finished the wallpaper in her room had long changed but we both love it. I used the flowery prints and Laura Ashley fabrics available at the time and was consciously emulating the patchwork coverlet my mother made for my bed when I was little.