Sturt's Spurt: After the Big Wet

Early on in this challenge I decided I would like to focus on the transformative power of water on the Australian outback. In 2010 and 2011, Lake Eyre was in flood bringing with it invigorated bird, fish and plant life. From this starting point, it was not a huge jump to bring this piece into my wildflower series.

Sturt's Desert Pea, the floral emblem of South Australia,is notoriously difficult to cultivate outside its natural desert environment. The plant flowers from spring to summer, particularly after heavy rain. The Heyne's Garden Centre fact sheet notes:

The Sturt's Desert Pea generally grows in the hot, arid, sandy areas of Australia. Because of the unpredictability of water, this eye-catching annual takes advantage of rains by germinating, growing and seeding quickly. In its natural habitat it then dies, leaving behind hard-coated seeds which are slowly worn down and cracked by high temperatures or worn with sand abrasion in readiness for germination with the next rains.

This is a photo that I took in Kings Park in Perth but an online image search shows the brilliance of  Sturt's Desert Pea en masse with distinctive silver green tendrils.

As I wrote on my blog, in creating this quilt, I was hamstrung by a shortage of the brown background fabric.  I cut carefully and scrimped on seams and, after piecing and quilting, it threatened to be undersize.  I resolved this by adding a binding rather than facing the edges.  A serendipitous development as the binding complements the work.  I've really enjoyed working with these 20x12in dimensions and look forward to what Deborah sets for our next challenge.