Quilt challenge quilt revealed

Apologies, dear readers. I have taken too long to post. But here I am, popping my head up to share my art once again. 

Here is the quilt I made for my guild's challenge, which was All Creatures Great and Small. Surprise! I made another tortoise quilt. I call this one "Gramps in the Garden." Because of the tight deadline and other things I had to do, I incorporated some motifs I already had done or at least partly done: flying geese

strips, die-cut flowers, hexie flowers. I imagined my tortoise waking up from hibernation to stroll around the garden, on a beautiful Spring day.

 As you can see, I put clothing labels around the outer border of the tortoise shell. I made the shell segments by the English paper piecing method, but instead of sewing them to each other  I appliquéd them onto a herringbone wool fabric. I like how it turned out. 

There was an exhibit of the challenge at my guild's May meeting. I was on the committee, helping to stuff challenge packets, hang quilts, etc. My quilt didn't win any awards, but the judge had some nice things to say about my quilt, and what the heck, I am happy to have it.

Now I am putting the finishing touches on still another quilt. I can't talk about it yet, but I've been having fun with the process. What is more fun than playing with beautiful fabrics?