Colorful forsythia, quince, crab apple, Bradford pear, redbud and plum are all budding and blooming here in eastern Kentucky. Every day on my walk through the neighborhood, I spot new and different color combinations in the flowering trees and bushes.
Our little magnolia tree is in full bloom, too, after losing all its buds last year in a late snow. The shape of the flowers and the subtle colors make my mind buzz with quilt designs and fabric choices.
Quilts were also blooming this past weekend at the local quilt show on National Quilting Day where there were a few really nice antique hexagon flower quilts. The workmanship in this Flower Basket quilt was stunning. I can’t imagine doing the pattern drafting and writing for this quilt, let alone actually making one like it. The easy part is there is only one template, the hard part is making and hand-piecing more than 8,000 of the tiny 1-inch hexagons!
Made by Fern Bloemker's grandmother Mae Grisham circa 1939.
Seeing this very contemporary colored bright red Grandmother’s Flower Garden was inspiring. I can almost see myself attempting to try the hexagon piecing at this larger hexagon size.
Maker unknown, includes fabric from the 1930s to 1950s. Owned by Nancy Sartor.
Want more flower quilt inspiration? You’ll find baskets of it in the April/May issue of Quilters Newsletter, including Part 1 of the beautiful floral series quilt, Flower Power by Jane Zillmer.
That is some inspiration. Very nice!!
the basket is one i have never seen before done. really like it and thanks for sharing.
I lived in eastern Kentucky for a while as a Teacher Corps intern in the late ’60s, in Breathitt County. That was where I really learned to quilt, and I enjoyed the flowers, too, once it stopped snowing. I remember visiting houses with no electricity, heated by coal-burning stoves, where women still quilted by hand on big quilting frames. You could buy a handmade quilt for $25, and you could get a bag of dressmaking scraps to quilt with from the Methodist Opportunity Store for $1. Quilting and listening to the Grand Old Opry were big entertainment!