When I first decided I wanted to make a quilt I really wanted to to recreate the pretty bright 1950s designs that I had seen in old books in the library. But modern quilting supplies were hard to come by in rural England and all the shops I made my tentative expectant first pilgrimages to were wall to wall sludgy batiks and brown civil war reproductions. I will post those first quilting disappointments one day so you can see where I started out- so much hope and effort and the end results were so so underwhelming. I came to quilting on the cusp of the revolution in quilting fabric that has given us all so much bright modern choice today. This quilt is my favourite formula, traditional patterns in modern fabric.
Like so many quilts I tend to make, I didn't really plan to make this one, it kind of made itself. I was at the Festival of Quilts Exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham last summer and I bought a half metre of this wonderful Liberty print with a coral coloured parrot. As I started putting together the rest of the fabrics I knew that pattern had to make it feel really lush, a real explosion of colour and texture. To balance the busy borders I chose the classic serenity of this wreath applique pattern which is a real favourite of mine since I first made it in my first sampler quilt.
The wreaths are hand appliqued, its all hand quilted in a grid pattern that took forever, but was so worth it in the end as the texture it makes is wonderful. This one was a real labour of love. I even appliqued flowers to the classic mid century red and white polka dot backing. 
I had planned to add a circular wreath stem to the back but my dedication faltered at that last step!
I hope it doesn't suffer for it. Its one of my favourite quilts, I hope you like it too.