English Elegance

Today's post comes about as a follow-up to something I posted last week. When I shared the pictures of multiple generations of women quilting at the old quilting frame, a commenter asked about the quilt Grandma was working on in the picture from about 15 years ago.

The quilt is called English Elegance, and it was featured on the cover of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine in February 1999. I saw it on the rack at a local grocery store, fell in love with it, and actually made it a few years later. (I could probably find the exact year, but I know I didn't make it immediately.)

This cover photo just called out to me, I suppose. I can't say that there's any one thing that appealed - I love the cottage-y look, I love the soft florals, I love the traditional flying geese block. So a combination of things struck me that particular day, and I ended up bringing that magazine home with me.

I recall that I started working on this quilt when I needed a hand-piecing project for a road-trip to my in-laws'. I cut a few blocks for the pieced flying geese unit, and found that I had everything I needed in my stash to make the entire quilt.

So I proceeded to hand piece all these units, and then when I had them done, I just went ahead with the rest of the construction. I typically let things linger, but on this one I continued working steadily.

When I had the top completed, I asked my grandmother if she would quilt it for me, and of course, she said she would. And that is how I happen to have a picture of her with this quilt in the frame. The photos above show the quilting - which shows up so much better on the back than on the front.

And that concludes this trip down memory lane. Thank you for indulging me!

I think I need to bring English Elegance out for a time and display it on the quilt rack.

 Happy Quilting, Friends!