WOW: Pottering About

  WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays  

I need more fresh air: although I could spend all day indoors quilting, I find that there's nothing more refreshing than pottering about in the garden. This is my version of gardening', a few sweet little pots that I'm going to transfer into a hanging basket. I just want these sweet little faces poking through and I like the idea of enjoying my morning coffee with a pansy nearby.

Blame it on Hold Onto Your Heart, I am a little bit obsessed with pansies at the minute.. not that this is a problem. But as my DH pointed out this morning - a pansy door wreath, my new pansy mug (awaiting it's arrival via post), several pansy greeting cards on the fridge just for the pretty factor and now my hanging basket. But I don't think I've gone pansy enough, I'm sure I can fit some more into my life somehow.. perhaps pansies are my own version of wearing purple??! Time will tell..

What's Your Favorite Garden Plant?

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Queen's Garden by Cate Winkler (2nd)

Queen's Garden by Cate Winkler 

of Wagga Australia 

It's Cate again! Not only has Cate already made a stunning Queen's Garden (click here now to see it,) but she's gone ahead and made a second quilt in these fabulous shades which she has aptly titled: 50 Shades of Grey! 

How great does it look? I have a thing for grey shaded quilts, whenever I colourscheme my new quilts and look at options, there's always a grey scale one in there - I think it's such an interesting scheme that can look beautifully cool and sophisticated and I love the challenge of conquering such a pallette. Although in greys, Cate's quilt has plenty of movement, she's certainly got a wonderful eye for using shading. 

'Queen's Garden' 

Read more about this quilt by clicking here now

--------------------------- Open Quilt Gallery--------------------------- 

Thanks to Cate Winkler for sharing her finished quilt with us all to take inspiration from. If you'd like to see more finished quilts made from any of my patterns, visit my Open Gallery. It's a place for all quilters who make any of my quilts to show off their creations in a central online gallery. It's new and I hope you'll join us by adding your own quilt there. Submitting your quilt pics is easily done via an upload screen directly on my website. Click here now if you'd like to submit your own quilt.

Hearts Desire by Marjorie Rich

Marjorie Rich of Boise Idaho, USA 

Marjorie has created a stunning quilt using applique elements from my pattern Hearts Desire. She has called this beauty Heart's Infatuation, here's what she had to say about it: Heart's Desire was a mystery BOM. I loved many parts of it, but got tired of doing some of the multiple repeats. I call my remix Heart's Infatuation. Needle turn applique and hand quilting. Finished March 2013. 

Marjorie, I love seeing my applique motifs worked into such a beautiful centre! I love what you've done here and your use of colour is just superb. This quilt is glowing and the surrounding green blocks creates such a vibrant lively feel. I love every inch of this beauty. Thank you so much for sharing your creativity with us all. 

Be sure to visit and follow Marjorie's blog: www.appliqueaddict.blogspot.com and be inspired by her creative work. I love following and catching up with applique bloggers and am delighted that Marjorie's added her interpretive piece to the Open Gallery to inspire so many people. 

If you'd like to read more about Hearts Desire, you can check out the Hearts Desire post archive right here on this blog by clicking the image below. 

'Hearts Desire' 

Read more about this quilt by clicking here now

--------------------------- Open Quilt Gallery--------------------------- 

Thanks to Marjorie Rich  for sharing her finished quilt with us all to take inspiration from. If you'd like to see more finished quilts made from any of my patterns, visit my Open Gallery. It's a place for all quilters who make any of my quilts to show off their creations in a central online gallery. It's new and I hope you'll join us by adding your own quilt there. Submitting your quilt pics is easily done via an upload screen directly on my website. Click here now if you'd like to submit your own quilt.

'On My Window, Flowers Bloom' by Lennea Wolfe

On My Window, Flowers Bloom by Lennea Wolfe 

of Washington State, USA

Take a good look and then a double look and drink in all these beautiful details! Lennea's use of fabrics and colour really make this wall hanging shine. I love the mix of tones and balance of hues, it all looks so inviting, I just want to step in and be a part of the beauty. 

On My Window, Flowers Bloom is an applique wall hanging that celebrates the beauty of abundant florals, flourishing on a window. It's the perfect quilt to brighten up a wall and add depth to any place where you wish a window was. The use of fabrics will determine how lifelike and vibrant - or dreamy or interpretive your own looks. This quilt is perfect for straight up applique or stretching yourself into an art quilt.

In Lennea's quilt here, the bold blue background sky gives the blooms a life of their own, making them the centre of attention. Once again Lennea, you quilt shines! 

If Lennea's name sounds familiar, she has also submitted Juliette and Queen's Garden as well. Click the names to visit those posts now. 

If you'd like to read more about On My Window, Flowers Bloom, you can check out the OMWFB post archive right here on this blog by clicking the image below. 

'On My Window, Flowers Bloom' 

Read more about this quilt by clicking here now

--------------------- Open Quilt Gallery---------------------

Thanks to Lennea Wolfe for sharing her finished quilt pics with us all to take inspiration from. If you'd like to see more finished quilts made from any of my patterns, visit my Open Gallery. It's a place for all quilters who make any of my quilts to show off their creations in a central online gallery. Submitting your quilt pics is easily done via an upload screen directly on my website. Clear here now if you'd like to submit your own quilt.

Hold Onto Your Heart: Working On Part 4

This month it's all about the diamond clusters. The center diamond allows for embellishment - either a little posy or a memorial crucifix. It's also the perfect spot for a little broderie perse if you can find a sweet bloom small enough to fit nicely. As this quilt is such an heirloom endeavor, my own clusters will represent our parents who have gone on ahead of us to pass from this life into the next. I like acknowledging their place and memories in the applique scenes; particularly given that each scene represents a fruition of a stage of life.

The more I work on this quilt, the more attached I get to it. Of course, I could say the same things for all my quilts to some degree, but Hold Onto Your Heart definitely represents an intensity and beauty that I won't be repeating - it really is a once in a lifetime quilt.

I have turned the edges like I always do, I can't help it, I just love the look of turned applique shapes

My applique has grown a smidge. Just the tiniest amount. I am keeping a firm eye on this because for some reasons, the diamond clusters have a mind of their own. Although I have been careful, they WANT to grow! I can't explain it. 

Although I do have a new trick to fix this: when I cut the diamond shape out, I cut it right on the line (in fact, just a tiny bit inside the line) and I do mean TINY which makes my template the tiniest bit smaller than it should be. And my growing fabric (I think it's the bulk of the turned edges) fills this space perfectly, bring the shape to it's perfect and accurate size. Keep your eye on the size accuracy, these diamonds slot together so beautifully, you don't want them to be uneven. 

 So far I have made one cluster and have three to go..

    'Hold Onto Your Heart' is a paid BOM  

It's a breathtaking quilt full of meaningful symbols and beauty. The floral border is a triumph which offers an additional  pieced option - making it versatile for all skill levels. Perfect for lovers and enthusiasts of applique. 

 You can start this BOM today! 

Be sure to visit my Online Quilt Group on Facebook where progress images are being shown all the time. It's a massive inspiration and I warn you, it's addictive!

WOW: Easter Success!

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

Can you believe I started and finished an actual project within a single day? Nope, me neither. I don't know what inspired me to try my hand at some last minute table running, but I'm glad I did. This linen was just sitting in the stash, going nowhere because although I loved it, there wasn't enough to see through any quilting endeavors. And now, I get to enjoy it everyday, because I've decided to keep it around. I think it might become our new 'daily' runner. I just love blue and white to lift the mood of a room. 

Anyhow, I made the total newbie mistake of starching the whole runner including the grosgrain ribbon edging - and this caused the ribbon which was already stitched down, to shrink a little. You can see in the picture above that it's all puckered and pulling. So I had to quickly 'pull' the fabric into shape to stretch out the buckling and warping caused by the grosgrain shrinking. Happily, it cooled down nice and flat (see pic below) and I'm relieved.

I'll have to repeat this process after any washings, but I starched the linen so heavily that little spills simply bead off and crumbs dust away, so it doesn't look like I'll have to wash it too often. 

Now I've sorted out my table dressing, it's time to return to my quilt WIPs...

What Did You Make For Easter This Year?

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Queen's Garden by Lennea Wolfe

Queen's Garden by Lennea Wolfe 

of Olympia, Washington State, USA

'Oh wow' is what I said when I set eyes on these pics..

Lennea has done it again. You might remember her Juliette beauty in stunning black and white with lime accents (click here now to see it for yourself) and now we're lucky enough to see Lennea's Queen's Garden sitting beautifully on her bed. The florals are superb and are the focal point to this beauty. But there's more..

It's not easy to photograph quilts this big, but these pictures show just how wonderful the results are. Lennea has cleverly added her own border to make this quilt work on her bed and it's a knockout.The added blocks really enhance the centre and make the quilt so workable for this space. I love how the the floral block gathers at the edge of the bed to show off the stunning applique (see first pic) it's stunning.

And this colour scheme, need I say more? I am loving these purple, blue and lilac hues, they seem to shimmer against the cream background and work perfectly with the pops of green.

Lennea, thank you so much for adding your beauty to the Open Gallery. When the images arrived, I was over the moon with how impressive the quilt looked on your bed. The colourscheme, as I've said above, is perfect and I love the changes you made to make the pattern suit your space so perfectly. It's a treat for me to be able to enjoy the creative efforts of others and I'm grateful that you took the time and effort to send these pics through.

'Queen's Garden' 

Read more about this quilt by clicking here now

--------------------------- Open Quilt Gallery--------------------------- 

Thanks to Lennea Wolfe  for sharing her finished quilt with us all to take inspiration from. If you'd like to see more finished quilts made from any of my patterns, visit my Open Gallery. It's a place for all quilters who make any of my quilts to show off their creations in a central online gallery. It's new and I hope you'll join us by adding your own quilt there. Submitting your quilt pics is easily done via an upload screen directly on my website. Click here now if you'd like to submit your own quilt.

A Very Last Minute Easter Project

This morning I woke up inspired to make something just in time for Easter. This is what happens when all your quilts are finished, your WIP queue is empty, your house is spotlessly clean and your Easter Lunch is completely organized. Am I kidding? Of course I'm kidding! Have you ever experienced such a fortunate feeling? Pfft! Me neither!

But it is, however, true that I decided right now was the perfect time to make a new table runner. If you're a reader of my blog, you already know how I wrangled this boardroom 3 metre long table into the house and how everyone pretends it's a dining table. Yes, we do have long, lovely family get togethers around this wonderful space, but it's proper purpose is all mine. It's my favourite place to draw, paint, sew and create.

So, because of it's unusually big size, I have to make all my tablecloths as none are available in this size. This isn't a problem as I have so much fabric. But today I woke up thinking about this beauty.
It's a blue tree of life print on linen. The linen is a lovely upholstery weight and perfect for a table runner.

I joined two pieces together to get the length, matching up the design as best as possible. Next, I tacky glued the edges, turning them and creating neat mitre corners in preparation for some ribbon.

I'm using Grosgrain ribbon in a matching blue

which I will sew down into position on the top side, I like the distinction of framing it in this way.

And so now I'm going to gather up my fabric and sew down the centre join and the ribbon all around, then I'll iron it flat and see how it looks when the table is set. I'm after an elegant and simple look and I think this fabric really fits the bill.

I'll keep you posted on my progress..