Folk Flowers Quilt Story

Finding vintage quilt treasures is one of those things that many of us quilters dream of, right? Searching through piles of textiles at flea markets, rummaging around antique malls, making a discovery at a local estate sale… you never know where you might find a treasure… am I right? Well, at least that has always been true for me. There is something about the hunt and the discovery that I just love, its all about the process!

For me the love affair with vintage quilts started before I was even a quilter, the year I got married. But that is a story for another day.

But let’s get back to this quilt! This year in January, I went on a little quilting adventure with a few Fig Tree friends to Road to California and visited one of my long time favorite vintage quilt friends, Cindy’s Antiques. And then I had one of those moments… I saw the quilt the moment I walked into her booth. It was the perfect blend of faded denim blue, washed out red and a little tiny pop of mustard yellow. It was lovely… and possibly just as important, in my budget!! I tried to talk myself out of it, but 15 minutes later, the quilt was packaged up and on its way home with me…

Of course as soon as I brought it home, my wheels starting spinning and I knew I had to work to get this beautiful folk art, primitive applique to you guys so that we could all love it.

First I found the perfect fabrics…

And then I just stared at them for a long time! My work load was kinda crazy.. just like it always seems to be and I just couldn’t find the time to make this project happen no matter how much I loved it. And then my friend Mary Andra stepped into the picture. I knew she would save the day as she has before. Her work and her spirit are both the same… impeccable and always up to the task! Her offer of assistance was like one of those little “halelluiah” moments. And so the sketching began, the fabric was sent off and Mary Andra got to work. Once she did her applique magic, we assembled and finished off the quilt here in the studio after all of her hours of hand applique… yup, hand applique… needleturn nonetheless! Thank you Cheryl for the fabulous work to finish up the quilt.

And Folk Flowers was born.

Next off in the journey, the quilt traveled to Diana Johnson for her fabulous custom quilting treatment… Even in retirement, Diana comes through!!

And as always Diana did her magic. Outlining, cross hatching and feather borders… pretty much the perfect trifecta for a vintage reproduction like this one.

And back to me for binding. I decided to use the same denim blue fabric for binding as I did for the main flowers… it just seemed to be the perfect compliment. The original has just ivory binding and I did toy with that idea but in the end wanted something with a tiny bit of a frame.

We finished up the photo shoot just a few days ago and we were almost there! Photography is always one of my favorite parts and yet takes so much time and set up!

I wrote up directions, created applique shapes and formatted the pattern. Since this is a limited edition beauty, we will just print the patterns here. Patterns are 8 1/2″ x11″ with full size pattern pieces [the large leaf set has to be pieced from two sheets due to its size] and we have limited kits.

We are so very proud and excited about this finish. Thank you Mary Andra, Cheryl and Diana for your amazing work!

Click HERE for the kit. Pattern will also be available separately by tomorrow.