Quilt from a photo

I started this little quilt (24" W x 36"H) over a year ago from a photo that showcased this flower really well.

It's probably the first quilt I've done literally from a photo, and I wanted every leaf to be right, and every detail on the petals.

It is raw edge fusing, and there are dozens of different purple fabrics in the petals, and several different greens in the leaves.

I wanted the background to have a gray-green cast, as it is in the photo, and my pieced/fused background is a combination of hand-dyed and batik. I really love the background.

I don't know the botanical name for the three "thingies" at the center of the flower, but mine are hand-dyed, and I like the way they resemble those in the photo.

I machine quilted the background heavily, and also quilted the pieces on the petals. In some cases I used decorative stitches for added dimension.

The leaves have machine embroidery on them, too. After I did all the quilting, I put purple tulle over the flower, and green tulle over the background and leaves.

Of course, I had to add a few hundred beads, too, for a little sparkle. They were a little difficult to sew on because of the heavy machine quilting, but I think they add to the overall effect.

Here's the photo, blown up to the size I wanted the quilt to be.

I drew the outlines on one-sided fusible, put the background and leaves down first, and then started  laying scraps and narrow strips of purple for the flower. 

It took a long time, but I am happy with the result.