EDIT: You can now buy this pattern, renamed Jardiniere, as a PDF Pattern here or as a Paper Pattern here.
You may already know how much I love basket quilts, so when Today's Quilter approached me to design one for them I was mustard keen. I decided to combine my baskets with a Nosegay or Bride's Bouquet block, which gave them a distinctly floral look. My Mum is a wonderful flower arranger, so I grew up with baskets, bowls and trugs of flowers for every season. A home - for me - must have flowers, whether it's a jug of garden roses or potted Hyacinths in the winter...or a quilt of course.
It's a design that calls for lots of colour and lots of prints, the more the merrier. A Jelly Roll of Corey Yoder's gorgeous 'Flower Mill' collection for Moda not only had some delicious floral prints, but the perfect basket weaves and a soft charcoal which reminded me of Toleware. It was meant to be. Each block is a combination of four fabrics - so I had lots of fun deciding what would go where - and the piecing is a little different from the traditional blocks, so there are no inset seams or on-point settings.
I actually pieced this quilt back in June, as I knew I had lots going on last summer with the Spellbound Sew-along and the Festival of Quilts (plus some other projects *cough* for a certain lovely magazine). Looking at the photos now reminds me of the glorious summer we had this year: the sunshine just pours out of them.
The beautiful quilting - so flowing and romantic - was done by my friend Jayne at The Quilter's Trading Post and adds the perfect finishing touch.
And the cherry on the cake is that it made the cover of Issue 43 of Today's Quilter *hurray* which will be on your newsstands this week. An early Christmas present for me...and my Mum ;-)
Nicola xx