My fabric choices started with a radish fabric I picked up in a sale, in colours I don't normally work with. Then several years later on a trip to Amitie in Melbourne, with the help of the great bunch of women who make up the Amitie team, I gathered some others to go with it including a beautiful Anna Maria Horner fabric (brown background with blue roses). I loved the material so much I didn't want to cut the pieces up too much hence the wide strips of the Potager pattern.
It's a huge quilt.
The size felt too overwhelming for me to machine quilt at home, so I took it to Sue Burnett, at Busy Bee Quilt Shop in Rongotai Wellington and she did an outstanding job. Each row features a different fruit or vegetable, with the occasional row of butterflies (since all good vege gardens have their share of butterflies). You can see this best on the back (sorry it's not a great photo!)
The back is pieced from various bits I had in the stash including an old sarong from Bali given to me by a dear friend. These fit around an old tablecloth that I picked up in an Op shop featuring Autumn fruits.
And as I often do, the label is an old doily, rescued from a family stash, with embroidery in colours that match the front
I like to include washing instructions on the label, knowing that whoever ends up owing the quilt may not be a quilter and therefore at a loss as to how to launder it. Do you do this?
My Autumn Vege Garden is used by the family to keep warm as we watch TV on winter nights.
Amazing. Love how you use old stuff in your work.
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