Charming Gardeners

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy;

they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom."

Marcel Roust

i want to share my newest completed doll quilt which happens to be a collaborative effort. i pieced the top together approximately ten years ago (!time flies!) after being inspired by a similar quilt in one of my favorite books at the time called "Celebrate With Little Quilts" by Alice Berg, Mary Ellen Von Holt and Sylvia Johnson. on my last birthday a very good friend offered to quilt one of my unfinished tops for me . . . and after a LOT of thinking, i finally decided on this piece. She is a good hand quilter and i always admire how much she accomplishes with the time that she has . . . one of those people who is focused and able to see the usefulness of any idle moment and take advantage of it. now what that means is that she doesn't have much "spare" time so i was really honored that she wanted to combine my work with her own and i'm totally thrilled with this finished little quilt~!!~isn't it cute~!?!~ isn't it "happy"~!?!~ these would be the perfect words to describe my generous friend too ~ she's as close to a ray of sunshine as it gets and i am so grateful for our sweet friendship. every time i look at this little quilt i smile and think of her. she is definitely one of the "charming gardeners" who makes my "soul blossom".
the original quilt that i was inspired by is actually bigger than mine which measures approximately twenty four inches square. frequently i make changes and apparently that is the case with this one . . . it was so long ago i can't even remember for sure what i was thinking~!~
the yellow fabric that you see used in the background of the basket blocks and the outer border is one that i hand dyed myself.
i used a homespun yellow and green check fabric for the backing and i decided that i liked the way that it looked folded over to the front as a binding. this is not something i usually do but it seemed just right for this piece. unfortunately while i was trimming the batting away i accidentally nicked into my backing; not once, but twice~!~ now you need to imagine a fair bit of cursing at this point in the story . . . that went something like this: !@#$%!%$!#$#$#%$%^%%#$#$%$#^%$&^*&(&(()*^&%%^&%()*^%&^%&^%)))after i was finished with that exercise in creative speech i decided to make the best of it and just think like a child might while making her dolly a quilt . . . so i made a couple of small patches and carefully sewed them on. i then emphasized them with some primitive stitches in red thread. i think it turned out pretty darn charming (just like my friend)~!~
the quilting is far more complex than what was suggested by the book and the thread used for quilting was actually a weaving thread handed down from my friends grandmother to her. i've met this grandmother (who recently celebrated her 100th birthday) and it's easy to see where my friend gets her outstandingly fun personality~!!~
so in the end this piece is finished with sentiment beyond the many stories i could actually tell you and i will treasure it forever.

this is a macro shot of the label that i made which has all of the important information on it. i like to embroider around my labels once they are attached.