Hanging Gardens Quilt & Label, Complete

 The Hanging Gardens quilt is complete, label and all.  I made this memory quilt for Esther Wright, the daughter of Bethany, a dear friend of mine who passed away in August of 2023 after being ill for many years.  Esther helped care for her mother during that time.  Bethany was also the mother of my oldest son-in-law.  

I offered to make Esther a quilt with her mother's fabric and/or the dresses Bethany had sewn for Esther when she was young.  Accordingly, a few weeks ago Esther invited me over and let me choose enough fabrics and dresses to fill a large bin.  I cut apart the dresses, glad Bethany liked to make full, ruffly dresses with puffy sleeves, as that gave me more fabric to work with.  The backing, too, came from Bethany's stash of fabric.  I purchased the white background fabric, and the dark plum pieces came from my own stash.

I drew a Hanging Gardens design in EQ8, started cutting pieces, then sewing them together.  This is the result.

The quilt measures 114" x 114".  I used Quilters' Dream wool batting.  There is 40-weight Omni white thread on top, and 60-weight Bottom Line white thread in the bobbin.  The pantograph is called 'Marigold', designed by Patricia E. Ritter and Leisha Farnsworth.  I have an 18" Handi Quilter Avanté (hand-guided, not computer-driven) on a 12' Studio frame.  The binding is sewn on entirely by machine (Bernina).  The label was embroidered on my Bernina Artista 730.