Purple Posies in a Basket

I have been quilting this beauty off and on for 6 weeks.

Pieced by Janet, quilted by me

68" by 78"

It was pieced by a family friend, Janet, who learned quilting growing up on a dairy farm. She still lives, and works there. I wanted to quilt one of her tops as a way to honor her, her relationship with my husband's family and as a memorial to my late MIL.

The piecing is exquisite. See, Janet doesn't own a rotary cutter, she cuts each piece separately and pieces precisely. The flowers are not made of carefully pieced half-square-triangles, they are diamond shapes with exact y-seams. Perfect points. Hand-appliqued stems.

I took my time quilting, heck, this was intimidating!

I first did a tight stipple in the white backgrounds (with white thread), then left it as I built up my nerve to quilt feathers in the lavender sections. I had Isacord in a matching lavender for the solid blocks and stitched a plume in each. The border is stitched in a piano-key , it didn't need anything else.

I was happy with it, but a bit anxious to give it back. What if she didn't like it? Thats a lot of stitches to rip out.

She loved it. Her sister and brothers loved it. Her sister-in-law asked for it. (whew)
And we spent a wonderful afternoon and evening with them. And the cows.

This girl was so curious, she kept her eye on us the whole time!