utility scrap quilt

"Flowers on her Fence" is finished. This quilt is all about capturing the idea of walking home alongside fencelines all overgrown with wild flowers. Simple yes, and yet a picture so memorable from my days walking home from the school bus stop many years ago - back when our road was unsealed, the pony club hadn't been filled in with high-rise housing, when the corner four square shop sold glass bottles of milk, and we'd never heard of sliced bread!  

You may remember not too long ago I pieced this quilt, inspired by the talented artist Heidi Parkes {see here @heidi.parkes}. I used an early Yuwa floral as my focus and added a mustard solid in two shades, all fabrics from my stash. I was super excited to team the cottons with assorted denims from a denim skirt {an op shop find} and my husband's jeans, creating a little depth and dimension. 

I recently asked Leeanne from quiltmekiwi to quilt it for me. We emailed back & forth, and also had a couple of phone conversations {and a photo I'd drawn red lines all over} to clarify just how I wanted the quilting to go in relation to the quilt... the magic of collaboration!

Yes, it’s organic (a pleasant word for wonky) but I’m very happy with the results and it fits in with the true utility scrap quilt tradition. 

I love how the lines of quilting bring those open spaces to life. From the front you mainly see lots of irregular quilting lines, going horizontally and vertically within the big rail fence blocks. I like that the quilting does not distract at all from the simple patchwork, but adds heaps of texture and subtly compliments the front.
Looking at the back, the eye easily discerns the larger rectangle patterns, adding interest to a much simpler side of the quilt.

I like to piece a scrappy backing for most of my scrap quilts too... it feels like I'm using up even more fabric, ones that haven't quite made it into a quilt top, like this selection of older toile fabrics from my stash.
For my binding I used a length of dress remnant from years ago. It seems to pick up the rosy reds, the denim blues and the gold really well and gives the feeling of all those wildflowers still continuing to spill over the fence. 
Finished quilt measures 52" x 59".

Until next time, Linda