While on my medical leave I worked as much as I could to get things caught up….the things I worked on the most, everyone else’s projects. Â Then finally one day I said NOPE…something of mine was going on the frame. Â I debated…Jingle Bell Square. Â Nope it is a Christmas quilt and I don’t need it yet….Wonky Wishes..nope. Â I needed to piece a backing for that first….Garden Party??? Â YES!!!!!!!!! Â GARDEN PARTY. Â The perfect quilt…cheery and FUN! Â Just what I needed.
Off I went. Â This just got a small stipple. Â I’ve learned with “Bonnie Hunter quilts” there are so many small pieces that I like a stipple best. Â There are so many meeting and intersecting seams that in keeps everything flatter and looking better…
Oh my….I was in love all over again.
It came off the frame and got thrown into the binding pile.
The binding pile was DEEP. Â At this point I think there were 12 quilts on the pile. Â I didn’t think I’d ever get to this one.Then Kelli got finished with college classes and she came home for a day to sew. Â She said how about we tackle bindings. Â I had already done five on previous days so there were seven in the pile.
I machine bind everything. Â I don’t hand stitch them at all.
We started in. Â Kelli cut and sewed the binding strips together..I started sewing them on. Â Kelli got a few quilts ahead of me so she stopped and sewed a couple bindings on but didn’t flip them over and sew them down. Â We got into a pretty good system. Â We were down to two quilts left….
A gray quilt that will be featured in American Patchwork and Quilting next year and Garden Party. Â We needed a different gray with the gray quilt and Garden Party…well that border needed to be trimmed. Â Kelli refused to trim it. Â I didn’t want to but mothers aren’t suppose to show fear….right??
So I started trimming. Â I kept reminding myself “Done is better than perfect”…and kept trimming.
Then onto binding.
And finally…finally a FINISH. Â I love the quilt.
I am so happy with the quilt.
I bought the aqua backing fabric when Country Threads closed. Â At the time I had no idea what I was going to do with it…it worked great here…it was windy and hard to get good pictures.
I deviated from the original pattern that was in Quiltmaker by skipping the border and making more blocks. Â I am so happy that I did.
Every once in awhile a quilter needs to make something for themselves….something that they know they will never give away……even if their kid whines and begs for the quilt (Kelli…make your own!!)
This one was lots of work but it was worth it.
I want to thanks the many blog readers who sent me fabric. Â Almost all of the fabric that went in to making this quilt came for scrap bags of fabric from blog readers. Â I vividly remember sorting through scrap bags of miss-matched bit and and pieces cutting them into the sizes I needed. Â I can’t tell you how happy the fabric sorting sessions made me. Â There are fabrics I would have never normally put together in this quilt that I ended up loving because I was determined to use most fabric that was thrift or given to me.
So there you have it….Garden Party is completely finished…now all that’s left is for it to be on my bed and for me to be sleeping under it. Â That’s happening tonight!
I’m hosting a UFO Challenge on Wednesday’s here on the blog. Â I’m working to finish up more Bonnie Hunter quilts before her new book comes out. Â Check out my listing of UFO’s and my plans to finish them here. Â It’s going to be hard to top this Bonnie quilts but there are several that I have started that have the potential.
If you’re looking for this pattern you can find it via the magazine here…or I am guessing it just might be in the new book coming out in September.
Today we’re sharing our finished quilt at  Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Crazy Mom Quilts.
Beautiful Garden Party! Definitely on my to do list!
I’ve started Garden Party, but I resized it so it uses 2″ strips instead of 1 1/2″ strips. I have no problem with strips, but I really don’t like working with squares that tiny. Jo, your quilt is so FUN! Enjoy!
Hi Jo! I love all of your scrappy quilts. Please do a blog post on how you do your bindings by machine. I’ve tried but mine never look good on both sides. I would love to know how you do yours. Thanks in advance.
Sharyn
Wow, what a lovely quilt. I’d keep this one too. Kelli will enjoy the sense of accomplishment when she completes her Garden Party.
It’s beautiful! Wishing you many nights of sweet dreams under it!
Wow! It’s beautiful!
Hi Jo, Can you tell me what issue of Quiltmaker that Garden Party is in? There isn’t a link where you said it’s here. Glad to see you’re doing well.
Now this is a perfect project for someone recovering. So much color, so cheerful and gosh darn it, beautiful. Glad you did it for yourself. And a kid that knows how to sew, can totally do theri own. Maybe you’ve got a few scraps to share with her though? Ha, ha.
Beautiful quilt! It’s on my to do list but I hope to finish a couple of in progress ones first! Lol!
Such a fun, happy quilt! Great job! Sweet dreams!
That quilt is so beautiful and cheerful! I loved seeing a picture of you too. You look wonderful too. I am glad to hear you are feeling better. Enjoy that lovely quilt. Another Bonnie quilt on my” must make list”.
It looks great Jo. I love how the squares at the edges look like they’re coming out of the binding. I’m not sure that makes sense, but I can’t work out how else to say it.
I love it! Gorgeous!
Yep! This one is in the UFO collection. . .I am hoping to make time this weekend to get my UFOs photographed and posted on Instagram. I have 1 week of school left, and then I am going to sew like a mad woman.
It’s a beautiful quilt Jo! I love it! I might have to make one for me! =)
Love your Garden Party quilt! It was added to my list of quilts to make ever since the magazine came out last year. I really need to “Buy Time” somewhere for all the wonderful, beautiful quilt patterns that Bonnie puts out. Jo, you are a dynamo when it comes to accomplishing things – Well done!!
I do believe this is one of my favorite “Bonnie” patterns. Every one I see is just looks really fine. Yours is terrific.You do need to keep it.
Jo, this is just lovely! I love how it turned out! I agree, you need to keep this one for yourself!
Your garden party quilt is beautiful! Kelli was a sweetheart to come help you bind. Hope your feeling better Jo. Hope you and Kelli both have a wonderful day!
Lisa
Your Garden Party turned out just beautiful! I too love that you left it without borders.
Congrats! Garden Party is a gorgeous quilt – there is nothing quite so special as a carefully made scrap quilt!
Love your Garden Party!!! I want to make one too and have the pattern and some fabrics set aside but I have too many other Bonnie projects started that need attention before I start yet another quilt. Love your blog!