New quilt on display at Sun City West library

“My Flower Garden,” by Mary Egan, is a four-patch, Stack ‘n Whack block that was taught in a class by Tamara Bennett through the Palo Verde Patchers. And it is now on display at the R.H. Johnson Library, 13801 W Meeker Blvd.

According to Egan, the most challenging part of this quilt project was finding fabric with a 24-inch repeat pattern and then lining up the fabric to match the repeat.

“You need to line up the pattern and match the repeat print pattern so you have four identical pieces to stack,” she stated. “Then you cut the squares and rotate four different centers for 30 different blocks. I used the same floral fabric for the final 3.5-inch border and binding, and a separate fabric as a 1.5-inch border trim to tie the quilt altogether.”

Because Egan was working on another quilt, it took her about six months to complete the “My Flower Garden” quilt.

“I enjoyed playing both with the design of each block and, when finished with all 30 blocks, deciding on the arrangement of the blocks for the quilt. I took photos of the layout both in color and grayscale to help me choose balance of color with my quilt layout. I changed the layout four different times until  I was satisfied with the final quilt design. I had the piece long-arm quilted with a floral design by the Arizona Quilt shop,” she stated.

Egan has been quilting since 2016. It was her goal to take up quilting once she retired.

“I have been sewing since I was a young girl, making clothing for myself and then later for my two young children. My mother taught me how to sew at age 12. My cousin was a beautiful quilter and when I retired, she was very encouraging and told me to have fun with it,” she stated.

The only quilt club Egan has been involved with is Sun City West’s Palo Verde Patchers. She says the members have been helpful and the classes are great ways to learn new techniques and different quilt patterns.

Visit patchers.scwclubs.com for general information about the club. The club room is open 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 8 a.m.-noon Friday at the Kuentz center. Visitors are welcome.