Botanics Challenge Top = Finished!

A couple of months ago, Rebecca and I decided we would challenge each other to use our Botanics fabrics (beautiful organic prints by Carolyn Friedlander). We came to the conclusion that "make a quilt from a photo" would be both fun and, well, challenging. Finally, the tops had to be done by the first week of March...!

Even so, I took my grand old time with this top. Improvisation is challenging for me - it doesn't come naturally - so I had to put it away a couple of times and work on other projects. Once I got close to the end, I worked on it solely for the joy of the make (and that's what I'll continue to do!). I really enjoyed playing with color gradation.

Here's the picture I based my quilt on. Is it bad that I had the tree idea before I looked for the picture? I was especially inspired by this Botanics print:

I've been building up my low volume stash for a few months, here and there, so I had several prints to choose from for the background. The low volume really made the bold and metallic Botanics prints pop! Of course, the layer cake that I won from the Fat Quarter Shop (thank you!!) also included some drool-worthy low volume prints. I have some ideas for quilting (random angles in the trees and woodgrain in the background, just to mix things up). What do you think about thread colors? This quilt is all basted and ready to be quilted when I'm ready!

Make sure you pop over to Rebecca's blog today to see her quilt top! I can't wait to see the finish - she's been posting sneak peeks on Instagram for a while. I assume we'll set a finish date sometime in the next couple of months. :) I'll write more on the process and include more close ups then.

Linking up to: Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story, Sew Cute Tuesday @ Blossom Heart Quilts