Pandemic Porch Quilt Show, Day 20: Rolling Pansies

I made this quilt in the 90s, finishing the work of an unknown quiltmaker.

It started as a flea market find: a metal cookie tin, full of petals and leaves. Many petals were beautifully turned under with a lovely, even basting stitch in thick white thread. I couldn't bear to take the maker's stitches out, so I left them in place whenever possible.

This "pansy" is a traditional quilting motif, from the 1930s I think. The fabrics - primarily calico florals - look like they're from the 1960s. Each flower has six components, 5 petals, plus one leaf. The thoughtful quiltmaker, perhaps knowing that she couldn't finish , put one sample block in the tin, with the components basted in place on a sad square of browning white muslin.

Clearly, something more cheerful was needed. I went for broke and took quilt guru Freddie Moran's priceless advice to treat red as a neutral. I hand appliqued each flower to a red square. After quilting, I surrounded each flower with white buttons.

The quilt was lightly hand-quilted. We used this quilt often, on beds and couches. I occasionally had to re-secure dangling buttons. A few months ago, to strengthen the quilt, I machine quilted red swirls in each block's corners.

The sashing is a vintage floral plaid, also from the flea market (but not with this project).

I liked the topsy-turvy energy generated by the plaid lines shooting in all directions!

Many more quilts from my porch show are coming!