My very own Secret......

.......Garden Quilt.

Oh my I don't know about you but  I'm wilting in this heat!!!  I love the garden and all the pretty plants.  The beautiful flowers and the scents ...... the birdsong.... even the cheeky squirrel who is constantly trying to steal the peanuts out of the bird feeder!! ... I tell you we have words everyday..... But this hot weather is a disaster for me.  My body's thermostat is totally broken so it's hard work trying to stay cool, at the moment nothing is helping much!  

The point of that little ramble is, that even though I can't spend the time enjoying nature's finest outside, I can enjoy it inside.  Through the gift of beautiful fabrics that so many clever designers are dreaming up for us.  I have always loved florals in fabric, so much so that when Reene was still at home  she swore that she would NEVER have flowers in her own home decor.  I know..... honestly it's true.  She'd tell you herself if she was here.  I well remember her horror one day when she came home and I had stenciled  the kitchen and utility with a border of large pink roses.  She may have even muttered '......moving out' ..... How different we were.  It was the 80's / early 90's.  I was in my way over the top chintz, lace and flowers phase..... You know Scarlet wearing a dress she made from curtains in Gone with the Wind?  .... That was me....  Don't get me wrong I still love all those things, just a little less of them.  Correne, on the other hand was top to toe.... black or deep purple or a muddy green.  All beautiful but very different to me.  I always encouraged her to find her own style and not be afraid to be different.  Helped her to dye her hair weird colours, tie dye her clothes in bleach - a warning too much bleach = very holey leggings, wear her underslip as a dress... whatever.   But the fact is, between you and me, I am really thrilled that she absorbed my love of florals without even realizing. Her style is still different to mine but....   Seeing her 'you can never have too many flowers or colours in it' designs and quilts makes me smile. A lot.

So.....   My Secret Garden Quilt top was on my list  for Q2 of Katy's  FAL 2014.  To be made into a quilt top this quarter.  I'm very excited to say it is done!!!!  And I love it.  It's even better than I hoped for.  

A little background ..... I was invited ... yes I know... they didn't know me very well... to join the Fresh Modern Bee 2 on Flickr. Back in 2011.  For my month as 'Queen Bee' I asked the ladies to make me a flower block... any size and method.  My choice of fabric was Aviary by 3 Sisters for Moda.  Well, the blocks were lovely and varied but as I, then, became too ill to sew anything but a little hand sewing for over 18 months they went into my UFO/WIP box.  And there they stayed until Katy's FAL this year.  I decided it would be my aim to finish the quilt by the end of the year. I'm right on track too.... amazingly!

My design is inspired by Cindy Lammon's  book Gathered from the Garden , especially the quilt My Secret Garden.  Hence the name of my quilt. Now for the photos, there's quite a few.  I don't mind if you skim through.....  :-) 

All of the blocks from the delightful blocks FMB2 ladies   

Honestly I couldn't go wrong with this bounty could I? All I had to do was make the filler blocks to join them all together.So I made a start, I won't bore you with all of it just a couple of my absolute favourites copied from Cindy's book.

                                                        Alongside the image in Cindy's book.
Which became this:

And the Hollyhock:

Not a very good photo but it gives you an idea.

Which became this:                                                                                                                          

                                                                      Love this one.
The fussy cut of this flower was just like a bowl so I used some of Cindy's flower and leaves templates

I think it turned out quite sweet

Then I started adding fillers and borders to make them all fit together

Here are a few photos to show you how the quilt developed:                                                        

                                             
                            The three large blocks on the bottom line were from ladies in the Bee  
I added borders to make them the right size. The checkerboard, bird house, flower and tiny butterfly were from Cindy's book and I added other fillers to make the line complete.  And so on with the rest of the quilt top:   

           The white squares are the signatures of each of the ladies which I will incorporate in the backing.

A close up of the flower and butterfly and the borders added to fill in the spaces

And here it is.  The completed quilt top:                                                                                  

You get the idea but so much better in real life

It was a really wet and windy day when I took the photo so I had to do it in the lounge.  When it is complete I will take one in the garden. :-) Then you will see it in all it's glory!

So there you go.  Mission accomplished! Many thanks to Cindy  for the inspiration. Another tick on my list for FAL Q2.  I hope you like my quilt top.  And that it was worth wading through my long winded post to see it! :-)

Thank you for dropping by.  It was lovely to talk!  I hope you have a good weekend. Take good care of yourselves and happy sewing. Yvonne Xxx