A picture tells a thousand words...

...and what does this one tell? Well - it is Spring here and my daffodils are flowering cheerfully in the garden, and indoors. But also - the basting pin tin is full again! Every last pin is out of my Ann Randoll quilt and that is something to celebrate. 

Once that last pin was out I spread the quilt to review the quilting - checking there was enough of it. Being a medallion quilt with multiple borders the quilting needs to look balanced across each border. 

I'm happy with the centre... 

...happy with the clamshell border (just quilted in the ditch) 

..happy with the pinwheel border (quilted in squares) 

hmmm...not so happy with the two applique vine borders. Here I have a nasty case of 'Introduced Puckers'! See them?

There were no puckers or crinkles when the top was pieced but they easily get introduced when the fabric either side is quilted more densely. I was rather expecting this to happen, but hoping to get away with it. There's a bit more of it than I like, relative to the other borders. 

Solution?  Add a grid on the cream background of the applique borders. I use a large triangle ruler and a Hera marker to score the lines - very easy and quick.

The scored marking shows up beautifully in the hoop -  all ready to quilt: 

Here's some of the border before quilting the grid - complete with crinkles:

And some border after grid quilted - behaving better:

You might be thinking "What a huge bother!" but for me, it is a pleasure to hand quilt grid work around applique. You see, for years I have done it by machine - on my domestic machine - and I found it so tedious that way - all the stop/start, fixing a million threads and cutting a million threads. When hand quilting you just pass the thread between the layers from place to place - blissfully easy!

Here is an example..my Carolina Lily quilt which was quilted on my domestic machine. 

I went to a lot of trouble to give it the look of hand quilting because I just could not hand quilt ( or thought I couldn't) at that time. It took about a month to quilt on my machine but I'm guessing I could now hand quilt it in 3 months - and enjoy the process so much more. Interesting to look back in time.  

So I'll continue hand quilting Ann Randoll - I need to finish the two vine borders and then am thinking to add some parallel lines on the outer large hexagon border. It has only a mild case of Introduced Puckers  so not such dense quilting needed ...I hope. 

Meanwhile Wheat and Woods is growing.

A this point I decided I didn't fancy the itty bitty fractions of brown squares around the edges of the outer border applique triangles - looked too untidy somehow and the eye is drawn to them.

So I removed them - just a bit of applique unpicked. I tried a wavy strip of applique instead...

basted ready to needle turn

I think I like that better. Am keeping that unpicker on standby though! 

So that is where I am up to now -  three more corners to add to the top.

Meanwhile the garden is calling. There has been a bit of tree trimming - just a few branches trimmed and 'dead headed'. These eucalypts are beautiful but huge, and prone to drop great branches without notice . 

It's still a bit chilly to sit out for long but there is much growing and flowering happening. 

Hellebores and rhododendrons

Bluebells leafing up everywhere

Have a lovely weekend

Wheat and Woods

My new quilt is progressing quite quickly. I only showed a snippet last post as I had to sort a few  design "issues" (grrr) that I had with it. Now there is more to show. Might be a long very long post...

Here is the broderie perse centre for the quilt - all cut from Tree of Life by Mary Koval - in brown. I searched for a solid that would match the broderie perse background and found Moda Bella solid in 'natural' is pretty close. I cut a tree from the brown fabric and then added extra pieces to get the look I wanted - as marked on the photo above. 

It was a bit of a mess at first auditioning the pieces - so hard to visualise at that stage!

Once the broderie perse was done I wanted to frame the tree in a relatively subtle way, keeping a floating look. There was much research in books and sketching ideas, then sketching again..

Some drafting of patterns...

Am I making it sound simple? well I didn't find it that way! Having to resort to my very patchy memory of primary school geometry, and using a compass, some string, a calculator and a protractor it took a day to produce this...

then some needle turn applique...

That's when I thought the name 'Wheat and Woods' might suit this project - and become a theme.

I wanted the centre to be set in a square on point so I folded and pressed the piece vertically and horizontally, and used my Adjustable Square to mark the square.  

So it became this...

Adding another wavy wheat border - ready to needle turn applique..

Now for something in the corners. I toyed with more broderie perse but couldn't get it to look how I wanted so decided on applique trees. I love the look in antique quilts where large-scale fabrics are cut up and used in small-scale piecing or applique. So that was the aim and I came up with a simplified tree pattern. It has leaf shapes I plan to use in the rest of the quilt.

Can you recognise the fabrics? It took quite some 'courage' to cut up chunks of these lovely large prints but they have languished in the stash so long. I love the look of them in the applique so am glad it is done. 

So now the centre looks like this - with four applique trees between wheat borders.

Last post I showed the photo below and left you to wonder "what the heck?"

That was some experimental prep for the strips of border that will come next. 

I want to surround the centre with a very wide border of small floating brown squares and scrappy leaves. This could be achieved quite precisely by careful piecing, but I want to applique ( because I am applique-addicted and very stubborn about it!). So I know the result will not be precise - my squares are going to be 'organic'  - and I am OK with that...just so you know! 

This is the basic pattern of leaves and squares that I came up with - to be repeated in rows.

Marking strips of background fabric with my pattern

Here are the fabrics I have pulled from the stash - to use for the leaves. They're all the fabrics I could find with movement (ombres and favourite eccentric prints) and others that seemed to suit in wheaty and woody colours.

Applique in progress - this is prep for back basting which is then needle turn appliqued to the background. 

Here is a strip completed - it is organic but still looks quite structured from a distance don't you think? 

Making more of these applique strips will keep me happily busy for a while.  Meanwhile I'm thinking of a last outer border to finish off the quilt...more to come on that. 

Hand quilting of my Ann Randoll is over half way now. I've removed most of the pins which makes it a lot easier to move around on the lap. 

In the hoop at the moment

It keeps me pretty warm on these cold winter evenings. Can you see me frantically stitching faster and faster to keep even warmer? The heating thermostat is kept lower and if that's a saving on power bills then it's a 'win/win'!

More applique please!

Since finishing my red and white CWB quilt I have suffered grievously with that horrible condition called Applique Withdrawal.

Yep we applique addicts know the panicky feeling that has us diving into cupboards looking for any UFO's to relieve the symptoms!

Phew ... I found something -  Benjamin Biggs Block 18. Those fiddly needle turned stems kept me going for a while.

Then what? another block of Harrison Rose. I tried a slightly different order of needle turn applique - still using back basting prep. The taupe pieces went on first, then the red. Then for the centre - trying to find the easiest/neatest way to keep the points sharp.

At this stage there are three layers of applique on the indigo points so I have cut out the back just to make it easier for quilting later.

Here are the two blocks finished together and you can see I varied the cheddar solids. I have six fabrics to choose from - all solids called "cheddar" from different suppliers. So I think I'll put them all in the mix for a little variety.

I love this project and will work on it bit by bit but I want to tackle another large applique with lots of fussy cutting and different techniques.

So - here is something I am working on - my own design and only in the 'working-it-all-out-tortuously ' stage so here is just a peek till I know where it is going. I'm  calling it Wheat and Woods and it should fix the applique withdrawal issues.  

Starting with some broderie perse using this wonderful Tree of Life fabric by Mary Koval. 

And then... 

Got you guessing?! more next post - I hope. 

We had a rare fall of snow a few days ago - so pretty. Of course we don't cope with it too well when it happens only a couple of times a year - traffic chaos, schools closed and power cuts (and yes, that was only 3 inches of snow). I woke up to a lovely garden view but the downside was getting ready for work with no power - which meant no heating and no hair dryer. I guess that is just a tiny inkling of what it must be like for those around the world who are regularly snow bound in winter.

Those borders are on

My red version of Civil War Bride top is finished.

And I'm missing the needle turn applique so much already. I'm sure that sounds crazy to some  but any applique-addicts will know what I mean. There is that withdrawal stage when it is done. It was nice to clear away the prep though - boxes of red fabrics and small mountain of almost shredded scraps!

Most of the blocks are straight from the Threadbear pattern by Corliss Searcey,  but three blocks and the border I drafted myself using elements from the blocks. To quote Corliss from the pattern notes, she says "feel free to alter or substitute shapes from block to block, making this quilt unique to you" - so I had a bit of fun doing just that.

Middle of top border 

Middle of bottom border

It is now having time out in the hand quilting queue . 

Speaking of which ... hand quilting Ann Randoll is going well. It is a large quilt but I'm managing fine by working around the outer borders first, leaving the centre for last. Here it is stretched out for some progress pics with one edge done. I might not be able to resist adding some fill in the open areas but they are not large so maybe not needed....

There is a great variety of fabrics as well as techniques in this medallion quilt - which can have its pluses and a minuses.  A plus is it is not boring to quilt, and a minus is that each little border needs thought and a different approach to the quilting.

 Outlining the applique shapes on the cream background is easy going and I have used a cream thread to match the background. 
I decided to outline the outer edge of each clamshell to make them pop out a little, and using a tan thread  as I like the look better than cream on the darker browns/blues. 

The Half Square Triangle (or pinwheel) border had me thinking. The HSTs have edges that are about 1 1/4 inch so there is a lot of seam tucked under there that I really do not want to quilt over.  I decided to quilt inside the seams to form a square of four HST groups, and using a tan thread again.

Perhaps the complexity of this quilt had me itching to do something simpler, something more random and comparatively unstructured ? And I've also been itching to get back to some EPP after seeing the lovely EPP projects that Susan produces so expertly. So I picked up my Grandmothers Garden again. Now these hexagons are l a r g e - an edge of 1 1/4 inch on a hexagon is pretty big as they go!

Here is a reminder picture of the start of this project against the half inch hexagons from the Ann Randoll quilt.

How it looks now - only two garden beds but already 1 metre across (about 40 inches)! 

This picture found on an internet search is what first inspired me to start this project. It is a gorgeous antique quilt shown on Quiltville Quips and Snips in 2012. I just love everything about it, the way it is hand quilted in rows, and the colours are pure Spring don't you think?

The next garden bed round prepped ready to paperclip to papers and stitch together. 

I've a feeling this could get large quite quickly and threaten to get out of hand. I think I'd prefer to stop at a 'cottage garden' rather than a 'country estate'?!

I've got my gardening clothes on but it was just too frosty to start out there early. Now the sun is shining and there is no wind -  should be just right - so off I go. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!