Let’s talk about this cover quilt! Flourish was the first quilt that I made for my new book, Petal + Stem. I made it first because my editor and I were sure from the start that it would be the cover quilt. The colors are bold and vibrant. And there is so much movement in the center of the quilt formed by the on-point stems. This quilt was a treat to make and I know that it will be a favorite of mine forever.

I wanted it to be quilted spectacularly for the cover and sent it to Christine Perrigo, whom I had the pleasure of meeting while teaching at her guild a couple of years ago. I have admired her work for quite awhile. It’s very modern and I wanted my floral quilts to not only be pretty but modern and a little edgy. I think that she understood this. She let the irregular angles of my piecing shine and used them to inspire the quilted design. She did an amazing job, above and beyond what I had hoped.

As with all of the projects in the book, I present alternate layout ideas. Here are a couple for the Flourish Quilt. You can achieve such vastly different looks by picking and choosing blocks from the collection of 40 offered in my book, and placing them within the same quilt top layout. I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Flourish measures 68″ x 76″ when finished as shown. You also have the option of adding negative space between rounds in this medallion design, or working up just the center and two rounds to make a baby quilt.

The 40 mix and match flower and stem/leaf blocks in this book are paper pieced. They vary in complexity from beginner friendly to advanced.

Petal + Stem officially releases on March 3rd but I have signed copies in my Etsy shop now, shipping same day! I can’t wait for you to get this book in your hands and flip through the pretty pictures and dream up your quilted garden.