My Mother's Garden

I told my Mom about 15 years ago, that I wanted to learn to piece quilt tops.

Next thing I know, she brought me this...

She told me she started this "Grandmother's Garden" quilt when she was expecting her 5th baby.

That was 57 years ago now!!

It has always intimidated me.

I wasn't smart enough to ask her while she was alive, how to do it.

I asked others after her death how to finish it...their answers were to give it a boaring white back and just cut it off square. 

That would cause her to roll in her grave!!! She was the woman who painted her living room turquoise blue!!!

 Look at it-does it look like a quilt that should have a plain white back?!

So I put it away again for a few years-wondering often how I was going to finish it.

Then came retro fabrics!! Viola! Just what I had been waiting for!  So I spent some time collecting just the right pieces, still wondering what to do with the back. I need 16 half flowers to finish the sides and then more yellows to fill it it to be square. I was ready!

Or so I thought. I pulled out the quilt and looked at it to try to get the feel of how she did it. (Cussing myself for not asking her to show me when she brought it. Which is more than likely what she was hoping for!),

she sewed a little on the machine and little by hand...but why?!

Then I tried to do a half flower and it all became crystal clear.

My first attempt took me half a day! I knew it wasn't taking her that long-I was missing something.

You can sew some on the machine, but you have to do the rest by hand to get it to lay right!

Here is my first attempt;

                          

Here it is after I un-picked it and did it half by hand;

I now have three half flowers left to sew together, The back and binding I chose is green's-I thought Flowers have green stem's and leaves-It'll work!!!

I love working on the quilt, it fill's quiet time while Tiny Dancer naps, I think about people, things, and places while I work on it...like working on a flower garden

It brings me contentment on many levels.

Smile and remember;

We're fool's wether we dance or not. So we might as well dance.