Bougainvillea and Bouquets: Flower Quilts

Flowers are happy things, and we hope the flowers are blooming in your part of the world.  Capturing the beauty of nature in a quilt is every bit as difficult as creating a painting - and, according to friends who are both painters and quilters, the quilt takes more time!  Here are some fantastic flower quilts we admired at the recent show.

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Bougainvillea in the Garden by Jillane Ocano

Jillane Ocano designed this whole cloth panel, then made it into a quilt!  She says, "I took a photo of bougainvillea in my yard and had it printed on cotton fabric (see below for source).  I double batted it and then free motion quilted this using six different thread colors. I began free motion quilting in January 2018."  This art/innovative quilt received an Honorable Mention award.

If you love the look of this panel, you can view and purchase it at Jillane Ocano's shop on Spoonflower (it's still available, at least as of May 2019)!

Bird & Basket by Susan S. Norris

We love the colors in this striking wall quilt, with its inner rainbow border. Susan Norris says, "Bird and Basket was hand appliqued and hand quilted on a lap, from a pattern  I got years ago by Nancy Pearson." (The pattern was called English Garden Basket.)  It has a batik sky background with vivid colors for the flowers, baskets and first border. The basket was made from fabric with stripes that resemble reeds.

Still Life Bouquet by Jo Ann Kilgroe, photo by Quilt Inspiration

We admire the design, applique and quilting by Jo Ann Kilgroe in this lovely work. The background quilting was divided into two sections with a diamond pattern on the left, suggesting the appearance of a window. Jo Ann says, "I drew up a beautiful floral arrangement in a wonderful vase.  Then selected the exact colors I wanted from my stash of batik fabrics." 

The quilt was made with fused applique on a pieced background. Jo Ann's precise machine quilting can be seen in the closeup photo above.

Garden Delight by Brenda Stanway, quilted by Debbie Newell

In this delightful quilt, every basket has different shapes of flowers! Brenda Stanway says, "I started on a pattern and did not like it, used just the basket and developed the appliques.  My first original design."  The flowers were hand appliqued and they have embroidered stems.  Debbie Newell's professional quilting enhances this design, which won Honorable Mention in the Applique - Small category.

Big Dreams Come True by Barb Tatera

Barb Tatera won Third Place for Big Dreams Come True, which is a whole cloth quilt with gorgeous quilting by Barb.  She says, "This quilt is a [fabric] panel designed by Jeanie Sumrall-Ajero and digitally prnted by Hoffman Fabrics.  It was so much fun quilting all of the feathers to make the petals really pop!"
As of this post, you can still see the fabric panels in various colors on the Hoffman California Fabrics website.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2019 Quilt Arizona show.