Imogene’s Flower Garden

Posted on June 21, 2016 by prairiemoonquilts in Longarm Quilting, People, Quilts

Back last fall I quilted a Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt for my friend, Imogene.

Imogene lives in the town I grew up in, and was a friend of my parents. You can read an article I wrote about Imogene and her husband, Chet, over on The Life of Hazel Ilene’s blog HERE.

Imogene is a quilter, and does all her piecing by hand. She hand pieced this giant Flower Garden quilt out of hexagons!

ImogeneFull

And here’s what she did to each flower, which was even more work — little 3-D petals surrounding each center — amazing!

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The flowers are made from scraps from the sewing she did while her sons were growing up, and from sewing she has done for her grandchildren. She can point out what each fabric is from, and tell you what she made from it, and who it was for. This is a real memory quilt!

Imogene1

This particular block is one of my favorites. The fabrics are scraps from an Uncle Sam costume that she made for their son, Mike, to wear in the annual Callao Harvest Fiesta parade one year!

Imogene4

There are a lot of flowers in this quilt!

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I kept the quilting fairly simple, and outlined the first inner round of each flower, and did a swirl in the very center of each flower. I had to be careful around the 3-D centers and not get them trapped down by the stitching. I put concave lines in each flower frame, filled the path with outlining, and put some swirls and other designs in the outer borders.

Imogene2

 

I did a knife-edge binding on it for her. It’s a loooong way around this king-sized quilt!

BindingImogene

Imogene is worried that since there is only one of these quilts, and she has two sons, which one of them will get this memory quilt when she’s gone? To remedy that issue, she’s started another one! She did say that she’s not getting as fancy with the 3-D centers on this next one, however. I think that’ll be a good way to tell them apart, and each son will have a quilt of his own for his family someday!

14 responses to “Imogene’s Flower Garden”

  1. Paula says:

    Wonderful – thanks for sharing such a wonderful quilt & history.

  2. Lori says:

    That’s terrific!! Good job, both of you!

  3. Wendy says:

    Oh my — what a beautiful quilt and quilting! Wonderful job. both of you! What a treasure her sons will have!

  4. What a story! And your quilting is amazing.

  5. Karen Edwards says:

    Such a nice job by both is you! She made that GFG a very special quilt!

  6. Kari says:

    What a gift of love. Her family is very lucky! Fun to see how you quilted it! Great work. A wonderful story quilt!

  7. Sue Cavender says:

    This is so perfect–just like Imogene. She is a perfectionist. The quilting is wonderful.

  8. Sandra Weber says:

    Amazing!

  9. Cindy says:

    That’s a beautiful quilt! I have never seen one with 3D petals like that. Really pretty.

  10. Kathy says:

    Beautiful work.

  11. Melanie says:

    Great job, Imogene! Some amazing ladies carrying on special traditions, whom are born and raised from Callao, in these generations. We are blessed to know them. Thanks for sharing, Shelly!!!!

  12. Ranch Wife says:

    What a treasure! And what a treat that you quilted it and brought it all to life! I love the history behind the fabrics – thanks so much for sharing the story. It’s just stunning!

  13. Sheri Keller-Wisdom says:

    Hi Imogene, I am Jane Wisdom’s daughter, Sheri, the middle one. I am a quilter too, just like my ancestors I enjoy fabrics of all kinds. Your quilt is beautiful. I am not sure if I would have quilted without a sewing machine!! I really admire the hand quilters:)

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