Tuesday 23 April 2013

Carolina Lily blocks - on trial

Fabric decision made! Here is the first block of my Carolina Lily quilt:

The print is the favourite
How did I come to this decision? After deliberating quite long enough about fabric choice I made two trial blocks in different yellows. Thanks so much for the comments and ideas received - this was a great solution for me! The yellow print stood out more than the yellow solid in varied lighting. This was a plus as the green is such a strong colour - don't want the yellow flowers to disappear. I also realise that I prefer the lemony yellow of the print to the darker gold of the solid.

The photo of the blocks together (below) is not a good photo - sorry. I can't seem to get a true colour and the print looks positively dirty. The photo above is much truer.

The two trial blocks

Block construction also needed deliberation ;)

The pattern for each lily block (11 3/4 ") requires 28 individual fabric shapes to be pieced together (including background pieces), and then the stems/leaves to be appliqued on top. I don't enjoy this sort of piecing (am not at all good at it!) so had already decided I would just have a background square and applique the lot onto it.

To help with applique placement I made a block frame - with opening the size of finished block. Then I made a sketch of the block on graph paper - the placement sketch for the applique pieces. By laying the background fabric square over this, on top of a lightbox, I could make sure the pieces would be in the same place on each block (hopefully?!).


Next:  to make the flowers with English Paper piecing method:

For the stems I made bias tape:

Great tool for bias making
It is usually easy enough to applique this tape along curves but in this case the tape is half an inch thick - too thick to be very flexible -  and did not cooperate with the sharper corners (see below). I ended up with some ugly bunching on the inner curves ... not happy! 

Curved bias stems did not sew down well - not using this method
So - I reverted to my favourite method of back-basted applique for the curved stems, and saved the bias tape only for the centre straight stem. That worked well - happy now!

I'll post some photos of this method in progress next time. Am not having luck loading more photos today...sigh.

If you would like to see some precise piecing of a lovely Carolina Lily quilt have a look at
 Thelma's red Carolina lilies - all machine pieced and even machine appliqued - magic! She has included great photo instructions. 

Photo from Thelma's blog with permission - beautiful!

20 comments:

  1. Love the colours you chose for the Lily blocks. I also dislike piecing lots of pieces together- would much rather applique. Can't wait to see how a few blocks look together.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love it! glad you went with the yellow print, it will be a stunning quilt. Thanks for sharing your method, I am so tempted to make one too!

    ReplyDelete
  3. The yellow print looks great made up. Thank you for sharing your process, it will be a real heirloom when you finish.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your post today was a good reminder that it's worth taking the time to make a couple practice blocks, especially for more complicated patterns. It sounds like you're eliminating a lot of frustration.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The yellow print looks lovely in your block. Did they mean for you to sew the whole top center together and then do the appliqué' ? This sounds like Calico Paradise which I haven't had the nerve to start because of the large center.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The block, fabric, and stem curve are all beautiful. This is going to be a classic!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Such beautiful blocks!! I enjoyed the detailed post about your construction. I think the print was a good choice :0)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Such a beautiful block! I love your choice of yellow. This is going to be an amazing quilt.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love the print you chose! I agree with your decision.

    ReplyDelete
  10. You chose a great print! Love how you re-do the pattern instructions to make it something easier for you! Looking wonderful.:)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Loving the yellow print. Its going to be another very lovely quilt Hilda.

    ReplyDelete
  12. This is such a great post, from hearing how you decided on which yellow to how you construct the block. Thanks to Thelma for sharing her Red Lily too, I'm sure to start noticing lillies more in quilts from now on.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Loving your Carolina lily! One of my favorite quilt patterns!

    ReplyDelete
  14. That is going to be a fantastic quilt. I love the yellow print you chose.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks for sharing your process. I love the yellow print.
    Nice to put a pretty face to your name!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Oh, yes! It looks lovely! The quilt will be stunning!

    ReplyDelete
  17. What beautiful blocks! It was a treat to see them. Wonderful tutorial, too!

    ReplyDelete
  18. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Did you make it to the Springwood quilt show? I went two days (I live in the mountains) it was awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hi, just letting you know I added a link to you in my new blog, Aussie Quilters Online
    http://aussiequiltersonline.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/keeping-track-of-aussies.html
    Jenni

    ReplyDelete