Bloggers' Quilt Festival, Spring 2011

Welcome to my post for Amy's Bloggers' Quilt Festival which starts today (now that Blogger is back with us).  Thank you to Amy for hosting another great festival, and to the sponsors for offering such lovely goodies.  When you've finished here there are lots and lots of lovely quilts to enjoy.
As you can see from the label (and I've just this moment noticed that I omitted a finish date - it was completed in August 2008 and was the fourth quilt I'd made) the quilt lives at our holiday home and is used by the grandchildren and by guests of ours there. 
It was the first quilt I'd made that used a bought pattern, it was "Yellow Brick Road" by Terry Atkinson which I bought, along with all the fabric for the quilt top, on holiday in Florida when we visited the Judy Hansen's Quilt Shop of Deland.  My DH and my friend's DH were very impressed with the coffees and the chocolate brownies that they enjoyed while Dorothy and I spent ages browsing, being advised and buying.  That morning we'd been to the Blue Springs State Park and had been delighted to see the manatees with their calves in the warm waters there.  When I saw a sample of this quilt hanging on the wall of Judy's shop I knew it would make the perfect holiday souvenir. 
As this was only my fourth quilt my focus was simple - follow the pattern carefully!  I also tried to balance the colours but think that the paler fabric is too stark in retrospect.  I also made a mistake by buying economy furnishing fabric as backing, thinking at that early stage in my quilting life that anything would do for the backing!  Hmm, I know better now.  The quilt is just quilted "in the ditch", for the first full size quilt I'd had under my domestic machine that was quite challenging enough.
I love this quilt for all it's faults and it is special as a holiday souvenir for me and because it is now part of the holidays of family and friends at the bach in Norfolk.