Meadow Quilt FINISHED!

Back in 2019, I started this piecework by making paper templates and using scissors to cut out mini triangles and so on.  My friend & not-yet-quilting-mentor kept watching me do it with a face that said "you're doing it wrong - I could show you!"  But she didn't impose, and I'm the sort who has to do it my way first - that way I figure out what problems need solving; afterward, I appreciate learning better techniques!  I also get bored with beginner projects and kits, so I start with a vision beyond my capacity, and ride the struggle bus the whole way.  That's just how I am.  

hand sewing the hanging sleeve to the back.

After this top was finished, and I started quilting it with my home machine, I had to grapple with all the problems my amateurism had created.  Plus I found the execution of my vision rather dull, and so I put it away and asked my friend to teach me how to quilt properly.  That's why my Organized Chaos quilt for my niece went so much smoother!  

​Over the next few years, I took this quilt out a few times, worked on the quilting until I got bored, and put it away.  Finally, this year, I finished!  After laundering, the dense quilting created a uniform, pebbly crinkle. 

​I sewed a hanging sleeve on it, and hung it in my room, and it feels good to have it off my to-do list.  ​

Now that it's done, do I like it?  Yes, but not the same way I did back then.  The color combinations were more "me" then; like the Birds & Blossoms quilt.  At that time in my life I was drawn to softness, while now I enjoy surprise.  Plus, the background green is dull; I used it because I had a lot of it, not because it was the right color.  In the photo below, the wall it's hanging on is painted pale sea-foam, which is not an ideal backdrop.  I bet I'd like it a lot more on a different wall, if I had one!  

But I still love the design; I've never seen octagons nested together like this with setting triangles.  One of the yellow flowers looks just like the petals of a morning glory, so I may put that in my back pocket for a future project.  Finally, in contrast to how tedious the quilting was to do, the final result has a light, free feeling.  The eye sort of unfocuses, in a similar way to looking at a meadow.  

​I also think it's a nice piece of fan-art for Youngcheol Lee (@namoosai on Instagram), whose work was my inspiration; it's not a copy, but it does seem to fit into the floral world he paints, while still being my own.  

​This year (2025), I will exhibit the Meadow Quilt in Rusty Barn's Quilt, Craft & Sewing Festival, April 10-12th, as well as the Northwest Quilters Guild Festival of Quilts in September.