Out of the cupboard

 

On one of those cold windy days last week I folded the last of the Christmas quilts to put away for the year and pulled out this summery quilt and took a short mental vacation to a warmer sunnier greener spot.  I made this  well over 20 years ago with mostly William Morris fabrics.  The quilt guild I was a member of would get  bales and squares of fabrics from a company called Merryvale they had the complete line of all the newest fabrics and since the town I was living in did not have a quilt shop at that time it was great way to get new fabrics.  The squares were 6 x6 and the bales were 6 x 18 inches.  The only fabrics that were not from a Merryvale bundle were the flowers and foliage.  The flowers were all hand appliqué either blind stitch or buttonhole with embroidery floss.  I had so much fun with the bees and butterflies.  The wings of the dragonfly were from a frosted tree print perfect for the veins in the wings.  The bees are all yellow plaids.  Then I sewed a few bug buttons on because I had them and daughter was too old for cute bug buttons on her clothes.  I also stuck a few broaches on just for fun the blue dragonfly was my grandmas.

The Monarch butterfly is leather and a birthday gift from my mother when I was still a teenager.  I used to pin it to the back of my sweater.  I can't remember where the other pins came from.  The one below looks like abalone shell.  The white one on the yellow flower in the top picture is fimo clay.  No garden is complete without a spider,  I hand quilted the web with metalic thread.  A little bit of summer in my sewing room.  

--Ann--