As Minimalist as I Get

This is from Make it Sew Modern, although I made quite a few minor changes. I used a natural linen instead of gray cotton. I sized it down to fit over my mantel, and to make up for the fact that I only had two yards of linen. I used a greater variety of doilies, and put them on the left (because left is better!). I used a white cotton with a brocade pattern for the border, rather than the gathered and pleated border of the original, and I eliminated the second border.

The original was also machine-quilted with gorgeous spirals, but I suck at machine quilting, so I did it by hand:
For a change, I quilted with pearl cotton (size 8), which works up fast and adds a bit more texture. I got the idea here, although apparently it's been around for ages.

I love it for early spring, and Lent.