There's a lot of applique stuff going on around here. Are you surprised? First off, I went off on a little detour with the pear cut-outs. Was digging through the applique parts and pieces totes and somehow these just sort of jumped on the wall. All from left behind bits and pieces, including the background rectangles!
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| An impulsive start |
Another project that just all-of-a-sudden starting coming together is this 'Wildflowers' quilt. The
background was finished up sometime in 2023 and I really thought it was done. Yep. Until my mom gave me a piece of fabric with these gorgeous flowers on it. Just had to do something with them, so why not fussy cut them and find a background? Should have known I'd find an excuse to put some applique on this yellow quilt top. Never quite satisfied with the simplicity of piecing am I?
At first I thought all the flowers needed to be cut very close to the shape/color of the printed flower, but after a bit of play, I decided, no. Will just sew the rough shape onto the quilt and let the colors and impact of the flowers tell their story. Don't think a bit of black behind the flowers is going to harm anything. The leaves were interesting to cut out, mostly it was just freehand work. I wanted something a bit larger and flowy looking, but it's always a delicate balance between looking a little contrived and like it was meant to be! It's going to be a bear to work all the hand stitching over the top, but I'm not sure what else I'm supposed to do. Will never be happy with the quilt now unless the flowers are added.
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| Starting to look more put together |
Also decided to make a couple basket blocks. Will be using more parts and pieces from the leftover applique totes. They are a little brash looking for now, but hopefully will calm down with the right background....
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| Lets see if these go anywhere |
Started cutting out more flowers for the Bramble Blooms II-A quilt. Decided that since I was already playing in the applique parts and pieces totes, I'd take advantage of the short, skinny little pieces of green vine available. If the color works, why not? They'll make perfect little stems for this quilt and then I won't have to make even more bias vine. Love having the orphan totes so much!
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| Very simple floral border work |
I went ahead and laid out the borders to Bramble Blooms II-B quilt again, this time focusing on the colors of the green vine. I think the darker green fabric vines look better on the B quilt and the more medium greens look better on the A quilt.
Mostly at this point I'm finding myself a bit annoyed that the border on the A quilt isn't wider. Proportion-wise it looks fine. Fitting the vine and flowers on the way I desperately thinks looks better is a whole 'nother story.*sigh I'm half tempted to figure out a way to bump the size of the border up about two inches wider. Hmm... do I have enough fabric left to make that feasible? Will have to check it out before I get any of the applique sewn into place. Sometimes taking the extra steps makes everything look soooo much nicer. Just not sure I want to make the effort with these oldy moldy fabrics though. Please tell me it's not at all worthwhile...
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| Wrap around vine a little more complicated |
For this BBII-B quilt, will have to come back and lay out the vine properly on another day. Right now, I'm suffering from a severe lack of sewing pins. I seem to have used most of them up getting other applique securely in place. Obviously need to get things sewn down and free up some of those pins! For now I wanted to show {for those of you who were curious} how to affix the vines in order to sew the applique on
one border at a time. Sorry, not the best picture, but hopefully you'll get the general idea.
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| Always good to have extra length |
Yes, my vines are lying on the quilt rather sloppily. You'll definitely want to lay the vines out
exactly as you wish to sew them. Pin them into place. Best to start the end of the vine overlapping on a corner, leaving plenty of extra vine. On the other corners, pull extra vine, just kind of bunching it up on top of the quilt, so that you have enough to cut later. I like to have enough extra to leave an inch or two hanging out over the edge of the border. When you pin the vine into place, remember that you will not be sewing
the last inch or two of the vine onto the border fabric
until after the entire quilt is sewn together. Yes you will have to nudge the unsewn vines completely out of the way at that point and pin them so that they don't end up creeping up into your new sewing machine seam allowance.
After the all the borders are sewn onto your medallion quilt, you will free your dangling vine ends, carefully overlapping each pair. Trim each of the vine ends to land where it's most discreet and fold down the raw edge at the end of the top vine. {You don't have to fold down the edge of the bottom vine, just maybe scrunch it a tiny bit more narrow.} Then, make your last hand stitches. Just a few minutes of stitching with the
entire bulk of the quilt laying in your lap. Totally worth the effort, prepping the corner vines in this way!
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Easy enough to cut the vine and have extra
at each end |
The last applique project prepped and ready, is one that has been patiently waiting in the stacks for at least two years. I never got anything going because I was quite sure the 'sun' needed to be yellow. As you know, I often pull the marinating fabric stacks out throughout the year and contemplate various design ideas. Always waiting on the right inspiration before diving in! In this case, it was a matter of pondering why exactly my brain was resisting having a yellow sun. Oh who cares what color it is, just get this party started! And so it goes... This one will eventually have some bird blocks thrown in if all goes well. Probably not doves, though the antique 'doves in flight' quilts have absolutely been a huge inspiration for the overall feel of this quilt. We'll see. Sometimes the quilt changes its mind and all the ideas go out the window anyway.
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| The yellow is much prettier than the picture shows... |
Will need to get the motif more centered onto the background and see if it still lays flat. These circle things don't always play nice! And that's exactly why I intend to square things up later. After all the stitching has taken place for the centerpiece. So that's that. Lotta applique stuff prepped and even more needing more details here and there. Should really try and find a project or two that doesn't require hand work. Sometimes I just want to sit down and sew at the sewing machine....
My comment disappeared. I just want to say you are the busiest appliquer I know, just amazing. Don't you get worried that with all these different projects, you might feel overwhelmed? Or is that what feeds your enthusiasm to sew? I love the flowers on the pale yellow. Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteYou have some beauties in progress here, Audrey. When I watch your progress, especially beginnings, I often think, I wonder what she'll do next. And I wondered that about the yellow blocks.
ReplyDeleteYes, it would be worth it to add width to the to the A quilt. It wouldn't be so hard, either, because I see that your first border is scrappy. Why not increase the scrappiness and use more of those fabrics!? It'll be interesting to watch how this quilt develops.
That's what I was thinking too! The scrappier the merrier and happier the quilt will be!
DeleteI luv the pear blocks,I've got to catch up on my bramble blooms quilt,yours is coming along nicely!
ReplyDeleteActually, I think the black behind the flowers really adds definition. I tried fussy cutting flower fabric, and got frustrated because I couldn't hide all the background, wish I had done what you did, that looks great! Had to laugh at your Mother in law's comment about the hearts on the post with the background story. The first time I showed mine a hand quilted, hand appliquéd baby quilt I had just finished, she said..... " wouldn't it be more practical to knit socks? Hmm!NEVER made her a quilt , in all the 30 years we've known each h other!
ReplyDeleteThe bit of black background behind those flowers is precisely what makes them "work", especially the white flowers that would otherwise totally fade into the light yellow background. Like you said this is going to be a huge undertaking, but one that really takes this quilt to the next level! My question is will you thread-baste everything down so you're not dealing with all those pins while wrestling the large top?
ReplyDeleteOh my that is a lot of applique projects going, no wonder you've run out of pins! I love the bright background behind the pears. And I wonder if maybe a pieced strip added to the border that isn't quite wide enough would do the trick? The applique might overlap a little, but some 4-patches mixed in might be cute. I wish I had your motivation, but starting a new, full-time job is sucking a lot of energy out of me right now. Soon it will settle into a routine again - I hope!
ReplyDeleteOh Audrey - such a lot of your beautiful applique for us to see in this post.
ReplyDeleteI think it was such a good move to leave a little of the black around those flowers, it really makes them stand on on the softer background. Bramble Blooms II-A , love the applique in the borders, those pretty delicate red petals of the flowers are lovely. Along with the last piece of applique not begun you won't be stuck for something to keep your hands busy!
I am blown away by your artistry as usual. Fresh creativity just pours out of you, and keeps pouring. I'm not going to tell you that widening that border is not at all worthwhile! Those vining red flowers are irresistible!
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting post, so full of inspiration. Pears, flowers, baskets & suns ... what's not to love here!
ReplyDelete