Sylvia’s Flower Garden

Sylvia brought this absolutely exquisite quilt featuring 9 different floral wreaths.  Sylvia is a quilter and an artist and this is her original design.  Sylvia saw a photo of a prize winning quilt by Sharlene Jackson in the Aug/Sept 2003 issue of Quilt Works Today magazine that featured flower bouquets  on a background pieced with colour washed squares that inspired her to make this quilt. Sylvia began working on her quilt in 2004 by drafting flower blocks in the form of wreaths that would be nondirectional.  Soon her daughter will be the lucky recipient of this quilt.

Sylvia and I came up with a quilting plan that highlighted her applique and her preference for simple and not too dense quilting in the body of the quilt.  I wanted to make sure the quilting was balanced enough for the quilt to remain flat when I was finished.

I stitched around the applique and filled  the inside of the wreath with crosshatching and added a branching curl fill in the background.  The body of the quilt was completed with a ribbon meander.

Sylvia has used a tight and full satin stich around her applique and adding shading and details with pencils and inks to bring the different flowers to life.  She has also added some hand embroidery to add special elements.  Enjoy looking at the rest of the blocks in detail.