Fresh Flowers in the Desert Quilt

Are you ready for a quilt show? I know I am! We live in an area where quilt shows are few and far between. The closest one is 30 miles away and it only takes place every other year. Otherwise, I'm looking at driving 3 hours. Needless to say, I don't get to many of them. So virtual quilt shows are a treat for me so I love it when y'all share the quilts you see on your blogs.
Then Amy pulls out all the stops and hosts this enormous quilt show twice a year to coincide with Quilt Market  and its going on this week:

So, those of you who quilt, join in on the fun, and those of you that don't, pop over for a visit and be inspired to make your first quilt!

The quilt I'm sharing is my most recent finish. A couple years ago, Randi, who blogs over at I Have to Say, hosted The Road to Spring Quilt Along. At that time, I hadn't discovered this secret world of quilting blogs and I was a new quilter, but about a year later, I stumbled upon her quilt and knew I had to make it.

 I didn't have much of a stash at that time, but don't worry, I would do you proud if you saw it now! :)

We have an amazing quilt store about 75 miles away (feel sorry for  me?) and I only get there about 2 or 3 times a year. I know, not often, but I do my share of damage when I go. In fact, I had to make a trip there yesterday afternoon after I pushed the crew out the door. Thus, I knew they had received some rain and I threw my quilt in the truck hoping I would stumble across something green that would be a pretty backdrop for pictures.


Little towns always have the most charming courthouses...with GREEN lawns!

Online fabric shopping fills in the gaps. We won't mention the fact that I have gotten to know my UPS man very well either. Seriously, I have invited him to eat with us, given him baked goods, and he invited us to go to the horse races with he and his wife. However, the quilt shop in Lovington, NM is worth the extra road time! It's called The Country Store and DeAnn is amazing. She's not online yet, but I pestered her about that yesterday. :)

So on  one of my jaunts to the quilt store last year, I spied the entire Fresh Flowers by Deb Strain for Moda  Line of fabric propped up in all its splendor and I knew it was going home with me for this quilt. Often I hem and haw over which fabric to use and which pattern to choose, but this time the planets aligned and the decisions came easy.

I don't have much to share in the way of the process because I was still new to the fact that we, as quilters, love to see every stage of a quilt in the making. And I don't have a great story except for the fact that I simply had to make this quilt and I love it. The bright colors were not what I normally migrated to, but I had to have it and this is the result.

I named it Fresh Flowers in the Desert because this about the only way I can enjoy fresh flowers out here. The wind is relentless and combined with the heat and dirt, it's a struggle to make much of anything grow.
Next year, I plan to take the Master Gardener program through the Extension Office because I want to grow something like this. In the meantime, I will be content to grow my flowers through the magic of fabric:

I bought a backing for it, but ended up not using it so I have a lot of green fabric in my stash. Funny thing is, I ended up going with a different green fabric. I love the swirls on this piece and I finished it off with a scrappy binding

I had Jackie quilt an all over pattern of flowers and swirls on it.
 Looking back, it might have been cute if I had her quilt it using green thread, but I was afraid of that green thread at the time. Even so, I think it turned out really cute and she always does an amazing job.

A fresh, happy quilt that makes me smile. It measures 68"x80" and will be on the guest bed if you come to visit in the spring. Never had a guest bed, but now that we are empty nesters (insert teary eyes here), I guess we kind of do. Seems we have quite a few overnight visitors these days. This is and will always be our DD's room, but it does double duty when company comes a callin.

  When the wind is howling at 60 mph and burning up anything I have planted outside, I can rest assured that I will always have bright, happy flowers that are wind proof.