Up (or down) the Garden Path

My finish today is a quilt based on the one called Garden Path in Edyta Sitar's book, Friendship Triangles.


 I have admired Edyta's quilts for a while and, when my LQS stocked some of her Laundry Basket fabrics recently, I decided the time had come to challenge myself to try her technique for making half square triangles with pre-marked paper foundations, and to see whether I could mix batiks with prints as she does so successfully.

Below is a section of my finished quilt.  Apologies on two counts: first that I forgot to rotate the image before pasting it into my blog (one day I will be technically competent, I hope, but it's not today); secondly, the wet and windy weather still hammering Southern England has meant it is difficult to take outdoor pictures.  I hope to be able to post a better photograph of the whole quilt when the weather improves....

I absolutely loved making this quilt and can report that I have become completely sold on the paper method for perfect 2" (finished) HSTs.  It was a great way to plunder my stash and use lots of different fabrics and backgrounds for the HSTs.   I have a few HSTs left over so it feels like I already a starter for another of Edyta's great 'traditional with a twist' designs.

With the exception of the luscious large floral to set the colour palette and a few batiks, the quilt is made entirely from stash.  I made it a bit bigger than the one in the book: it measures 78" x 100" and my friend Susie longarm quilted it for me with a flowing floral design in a dark cream.  Most of the piecing was done before Christmas so it was great to get it back from Susie this week and handstitch the binding today for a Friday finish!

 The quilt reminds me of gardens and flowers, and better weather, and I really like the contrasting textures of the prints, checks, spots and batiks.  I would not previously have put batiks with anything except other batiks, so thank you, Edyta, for inspiring me to try something new.

I will be linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts (I hope!).  Have a great weekend.