WOW: LE Centre Done!

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays 

I have reached another WOW stage in the LE journey

I had no idea what I started when I released Love Entwined. It's been an epic journey for me and I'm really pleased to finally have the centre completed.Yes, there's a lot of work ahead, but for the first time, I can see the end in sight. With the centre done, I feel suddenly much more relaxed about this quilt. I am completely content now to just move ahead with my own version of LE and maybe even start thinking about releasing my next BOM.

Yes, my Love Entwined center is done. This image is a bit dark and moody, the lighting conditions aren't great at the moment but I couldn't resist taking a picture anyway. Although the colours aren't showing up as true, I still think its incredibly beautiful. So, now I have two weeks hand sewing (if I sew 8 hours a day, 5 days a week) or 4 - 6 weeks at a few hours a day in the evenings. I think what this means for me is that I will start moving ahead with the borders and prep work for the blocks ahead and keep the hand sewing task as my 'break' work. 

Love Entwined, I can't believe I'm finally here. It feels like just the other day that I was thinking of drawing you up as a pattern! This is my most intense and time consuming quilt, ever. What can I say? I love the adventure and mystery of this quilt. 

What's Your WOW ? 

An InLinkz Link-up

Meeting the 1st Love Entwined!

Last week I blogged about Narelle Birchall and her LE - she is an extraordinarily talented quilter and the first person, as far as any of us know, to have finished Love Entwined. Am I serious?! Yes I am! Just thinking about it leaves me a little breathless. But Narelle isn't just talented, she's also generous and giving too. Last week we met up at Quilts in the Barn over in Wonga Park and I was able to see her work firsthand. This has been the first moment I've had to blog about the whole experience.

Oh my.

(L-R) Narelle, Brenda Papadakis and yes, that's me grinning in admiration and awe. It was cramped in there for a quilt as big as LE, but we were keen to unfold it and have a look at its beauty and it wasn't long before everyone present was desperate for a better look...

So it was taken outside and pegged to the tennis court fence. It was an incredibly bright day and the glare was overwhelming for me, all my photos turned out blank or washed out and I got one of those instant sun headaches, so I was very grateful to Linda who knew my camera better that I do and put it on the right setting so that I could capture a photo with Narelle in front of her majestic quilt. We are both somewhat stunned by the light in this image, but I think you can see how spectacular Narelle's Love Entwined is. Narelle, you are talented beyond words.

I can tell you that it truly is spectacular and that Narelle has accomplished years worth of work at a rapid pace. And yet, it's incredible in every way. Her fabrics, her workmanship, everything just left me speechless.

I'm already at that stage with Love Entwined, where I just don't know what to say about it anymore. It has been an epic and heartfelt journey for me and I feel in many ways that I have done what I felt I needed to when I started this project. With the last installment released this month, I feel somewhat 'finished' emotionally with the drive that was needed to release it. From this point onward, it belongs to whoever makes it and takes on its own character at each hand. Seeing Narelle's quilt made me fully 'realise' that this quilt is out there in the world now and this leaves me deeply contented.

Did I mention Narelle's excellent workmanship? She really is talented. This is perhaps the most difficult block in the entire quilt and she has made it look effortless and simple.

It's very difficult to photograph a quilt like LE because there is so much detail and these details are not distinguished in overall quilt front pics. So here is a close up shot. I can tell you first hand that every inch has been made extraordinarily well, this quilt is a masterpiece. 

My deep thanks and gratitude to Linda who allowed us to unfold LE and then peg it on the tennis courts, and for taking the images I am in when I couldn't manage my own camera (honestly, I'm hopeless with those things), and to Brenda Manges Papadakis (that's a whole other post!) and of course to Narelle Birchall - its incredibly generous to take the time to show your quilt and to have allowed me to see it in real life. Thank you so much for thinking of me.

Yes, Love Entwined is officially out there. What do you think?

LE: Vases 3 & 4, the yellow flowers

These last two vases just flew into being finished. 

I really loved working with the sunshiny yellow too.

I'm so glad I found this fabric for fussy cutting the flowers

and this cute print for a little bit of broderie perse

Here I am, auditioning the fabric for the best spots to pick. You can see that this print from my stash is actually a flower print, so the colour graduations are just lovely. 

 working from the pattern as a guide

 fussy cutting the tones I wanted to use

 creating blooms full of tone variation and 'life'

this one is so sweet

and overall, I love the look and it all balances with my compass and fabrics.

I've completed my four vases and I'm so pleased with how they look. My center is done now. It feels remarkable to have reached this point. It's been exhausting at times and when I hold this center square of fabric, I can't believe how much time, work and labour has gone into creating it. I have a bit of hand stitchery to do for embellishing and about a 2 weeks worth of hand sewing to stitch all the applique down into position. What you see here is mostly held into position with Elmer's Glue in disappearing purple. This is a starch based glue which simply washes away. I use it all the time - actually its the only glue I use for applique when quilting. That's the calm before my storm. Which storm? My creativity storm for the borders! I can't wait!

LE: Vases 3 & 4, the purple flowers

These are my opposite diagonal vases 3 & 4. They're very similar and I have chosen to make them both purple and yellow. The top vase being darker and the bottom slightly lighter. I don't usually use a lot of purple, but I think it really works between these vases.

Bloom details 

As you can see, I was auditioning the purples before I even stitched down my berries. I put these purple blooms aside very early on, deciding I wouldn't use them. But now, with my berries stitched down, it works. 

 Tomorrow I'll be showing my yellow flower choices