Fenced Flower Patches

A year ago, my mother let me choose quilt tops from her for each of my children.  The moment I saw this top, I thought of my youngest daughter, a red-haired sweetheart who simply loves purple!  The browns and soft turquoises are ever-so-flattering on her.  She now wants a skirt just like her quilt (and we purchased the fabric for her summertime skirt-making project when we picked the binding stripe)!

The backing is pieced, as there was not enough of any of the three pieces selected to do the whole thing; it turned out delightfully well anyway.  The three are harmonious, featuring dark brown backgrounds and flowers, stylized butterflies, or swirls in white and turquoise.

The striped binding went together so well, it appears almost seamless!  It is remarkable that the fabrics complement each other because the front, the back, and the binding came from different stores and from different years.

Because I have been working on hand-quilted projects for the last several weeks, my machine quilting was a bit rusty:  the stitches are not as even as I would like and the meander pattern could benefit from better uniformity.  But the top was quilted and ready for my young daughter to select a binding fabric in less than two hours, which time was measured while still attending to other mothering responsibilities.  

I like the look and feel of handwork better, but it takes so long that the goal of completing fifty-two would require more hours than I have!