I recently described this work as “my first major quilt.” It was completed in 2007, so it doesn’t belong in the catalog of my latest work, but the elements I included in it still appear in many more recent designs.
The quilt was made over a period of six years. I completed other quilts during that time, but this was an ongoing project. One of the first piecing techniques that intrigued me was English paper piecing. I basted the 1” hexagons on freezer paper and had a portable project. Since I was still working full time, I stitched while riding in the car and on visits with my mother in her assisted living facility, on the porch with her at her nursing home, and in hospital waiting rooms when my sister was ill.
As I was learning more about the world of quilting, I began to think of ways to combine these hexagons with other quilting techniques. Once I learned needleturn appliqué, I wanted to add some curves to my pieced elements. I assembled ten of the Grandmother’s Flower Garden units, appliquéd them to a background, and planned to add a vine with leaves in the border.
I actually made another small quilt to explore the technique of the two-colored border with the vine separating them. That worked, so I interpreted it large scale.
I wanted a bit more interest in the center of the quilt (well, not really the center…I was already embracing the idea of asymmetrical balance), so I made a bouquet of flowers using some elements of flowers from Barb Adams and Alma Allen’s Quilting in the Garden (a quilt I completed sometime in this process).
I made my first bow with trapunto here. I loved the bow. I still like bows. Especially plaid bows. They reveal the folds created when a ribbon is rumpled to tie a knot.
Certainly not the least challenging was the quilting. Then a beginner, I quilted the hexagons with a continuous curve motif, echoed around the appliqué, used my version of one of Diane Gaudynski’s filler designs in the inner border, and stitched a double grid in the outer border. The only element of the quilting that was marked was half of the straight lines (they are 1” apart) and then quilted 1/4” away from that using the edge of the free motion foot. Then, as now, the straight line quilting is the most challenging motif in free motion quilting, but I do still love the effect.
When it was time to give this quilt a title, I enlisted my husband’s input. He came up with Ollie Jane’s Flower Garden to honor the traditional blocks of hexagons and give tribute to my quilting grandmother, Ollie Jane Hasty.
This quilt has had quite a career appearing in quilt shows and going to lectures with me. She has earned some ribbons and accolades, but I haven’t retired her. She hangs in the stairwell of our home, as close to the center of our lives as she can be.
The quilt used all cotton fabrics, some reproduction feed sacks. Batting is Dream Cotton request. Quilting thread is DMC machine embroidery cotton 50 weight / 2ply. Finished dimensions are 58” x 68”.
Grandma Ollie Jane is so proud!