The book was Scrap Quilts Fun and Fast by Patricia Wilens and the pattern was called "Sunflower Sayonara" by Terri Shinn. According to the book the pattern originated in the 1930's. Of course as soon as I began studying the pattern I started thinking of ways I would change it. It's very rare that I follow a pattern just as it is written from beginning to end. But the pattern was definitely made for Janet.
My sister Janet is five years younger than I. Although we have some similar interests in life, we are very different personalities. Janet has always taken the road less traveled. And as the poem says, "and that has made all the difference". Janet is creative, unique and very much an individual. And that is what I love about her. One of the things Janet grows on "the farm" is sunflowers. So a quilt was born. And I called my version of Terri Shinn's quilt, "Sunflower Garden".
Each block consisted of an appliqued sunflower resting on a leaf against a red background. I collected enough fabric so that each block had a different red/yellow/green/brown combination. I had never done machine applique before. So this would be my challenge with this project.
I added the thin border between each block to help the sunflowers stand out individually.
I tied it all together with a zig-zag inner border made of all the yellows and greens from the blocks. This was my own creation; no pattern. Look Ma, no hands!!!! The outer border was again one of the dark reds from the block backgrounds.
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Three views of "Sunflower Garden"
To finish it off I backed the quilt with a cream colored fabric. I wanted the quilting to be clearly seen. My long are quilter, Linda Bennett, did a fabulous job. For my signature I made another sunflower, signed and dated it with an embroidery stitch and stitched it to the back. I liked the look of the signature and decided that from this point on all my quilts would incorporate the block design on the back. The finished quilt measure 73"x 85".
The other "first" for this quilt was that I entered it in a show. I didn't win any prize but the experience was well worth it. I learned a great deal from the judges' comments. And I really felt proud seeing my work hanging in public.
 
And so that was one sister quilt done and two to go. On to sister quilt two!!!
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