hst | Evening in the Garden Quilts

Here’s the finished top on my bed (no walls large enough). Actually, it looks pretty good in my room… No, this is headed to the east coast.

I always feel finished when the top is done, and then remember that I have to piece a giant back. And the batting. Ah, well. Back to it.

Linking up to Work in Progress Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Wow, I had a hard time choosing my favorite quilt to enter in this show. I really like several of the things I’ve made this year. In fact, I started a post on “Windflowers” before I realized that this was my favorite. For today.

This is “Ocean Breezes”, made in early July. It’s made from 176 HSTs, in a variety of textured fabrics.

I wanted that breezy, summer, beachy feel, so I used several seer suckers and an embellished white cotton that had pin tucks and rick rack .

This was my first foray into fabrics like these for quilting. They were stretchy and finicky, but we got along all right, and everything came out square enough in the end.

The pale yellow back was hard to photograph. I pieced it with a strip of seer sucker.

I quilted this entirely with white Bottom Line by Superior Threads. I stablized the lines between all the blocks first, then did the diagonals in one direction only. I’m very pleased with the alternating wavy lines. My favorite comment from a viewer: “I can feel the breezes!”

The best part about Ocean Breezes is its new home. It was purchased by a woman who had an antique family quilt in aqua and white (unusual, I think, she sent me a picture), and she felt that this one was meant to come home to be with hers. I couldn’t be happier.