Diane's Gift
I was fortunate to spend a little over a year with a group called The Mini-Makers that was led by a Jaynette Huff who has made a fabulous assortment of miniature quilts. Jaynette has written several quilting books including Quilts from Grandmother's Garden: A Fresh Look at English Paper Piecing and Paper Piecing For the Birds: Paper-Pieced Birdhouses and Bird Feeders. Look for another book about scrappy quilts at the end of 2009.
One of the challenges given to the group was to make a miniature whole cloth quilt. Our group had been down to Hot Springs to see Diana Perry's beautiful home on Lake Hamilton. Diane brought out her collection of handkerchiefs. She said to take any one we wanted for another challenge - to use a handkerchief to make a quilt. I took two. I realized the design on this hankie should not be cut up but rather simply quilted. And it would fulfill my whole cloth challenge.
As a thank you to Diana I named this 16" x 16" piece made in 2007 after her. The flower coming out of the pot is hand quilted. The pot and table cloth are stiple quilted by machine. I also machine quilted the background crosshatching with silver thread.