Equal and Opposite

All things are obey the laws of physics.  Especially quilting.  Now hold on there and let me explain.  For each and every action a quilter takes that quilter has a opposite reaction that will also happen.  For example.  A quilter takes a quilting class and learns a new technique.  The results?  You'll either be swearing off ever doing that again, or you'll certain to be making something that utilizes what you learned.

Take for example my friend Sue.  She thought she would border out her Lone Star Quilt with friendship blocks.  The results?  Having to make 56 friendship blocks.

My personal example is this.  If you make a huge border and fill it with applique...  You'll have a lot of applique to quilt!  Remember all that Wisteria?  Uh hu.  Remember all those leaves?  Remember there being no good way to travel through all that quilting?  Yep hours and hours of quilting.  And so many starts and stops I was actually having to cut my jumpers to quilt within the each new area.  What a challenge!  I told DD that I promise not to take on another contract quilt for a (long) while.  She paid me no mind one way or the other.  I'm not sure if she didn't believe me or not.   But thankfully I can say that I now have every speck of Wisteria quilted.  No, I can't show it to you.  The threads aren't tucked, and it looks - oh such a sight!  Which is more to my physics point.  It doesn't look pretty yet so I don't want to show you.

All of my sewing meant that I missed my Lone star Quilt-a-long day.  Thankfully I wasn't hostessing hu?  Anyway I don't have anything to show.  I had thought I'd dig out the Fabrico pens and see if I could get a bit more ink out of them.  But really, didn't you notice?  It's December 1st!  That means it's 23 days until Christmas!    ACK!  Someone slow down Santa!

Lilly's Garden Quilt Grows White Wisteria

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!  For Thanksgiving I seem to have picked up a bug, after days of just feeling bla with my bones aching, the fevers where actually somewhat of a relief.  Don't bother worrying, I felt better enough today to work in the sewing room.  Right I bet you gals know exactly how much better that makes me.  LOL!

White Wisteria and Fairy Ring Applique 

I affixed all of the Calla Lilies, and changed the toadstools into more of a fairy ring shape and then I added a branch of White Wisteria.  The angle of the new branch allowed me to lengthen a couple of the distant purple Wisteria and it you look you can see there is a bit of a graduation line between the white the purple and then the pink.  My next step will be to applique this and then I can start working on filling up that second side of this border and getting on to the remaining 2 borders.

Oh and I have learned a trick to cutting the Wisteria leaves.  Now that I have a solid grasp on how the grow I can rough sketch one on the Steam-a-Seam (2).  Carefully cutting the first branch out I can then rough in the next branch using the spaces of scrap bits to draw in the first side of leaves, then the branch is drawn and the second side of leaves drawn to match.  It goes more quickly this way and my scraps are even smaller than before.

Lilly's Garden Quilt Races to be a Flismy

Lilly's Garden Quilt Flimsy
nearly finished

Lilly's Garden Quilt is really coming along.  As I mentioned it was delivered yesterday (along with some glowing compliments on what I've done so far.    I have run working on it ever since.  I worked on it yesterday until about 15 minutes to midnight, before it let me have my peace to call it a night.

DH took the pictures and this image on the left which I thought was perfect, he cut off the bottom. Then the one on the bottom he cut off the sides, but we'll let him squeak by about it this time.

Lilly's Garden Quilt Flimsy Second View

Right now I'm thinking a slender branch of Wisteria coming off the end of the branch and into the background space a bit more is in order, as well as the big calla all the way on the bottom right, I have quilt a long stem for that which I didn't cut off.  I'll plan to run that up a bit more to make it taller.  What else do you see?  Any thoughts?  Now if you're wondering where this is going I've added a thumbnail of the quilt at the bottom so you can see.  I need to add a long strip of the dark blue to each side.  Then around that will be the piano key boarder that I've been looking forward to (with occasional dread) and it will be all ready for quilting.

Lilly's Garden Quilt
Mock Up

Black Friday Double Check Confirmed

It seems the old adage that I grew up with; Sears will make things right still rings true.  They sent a email to DH, apologizing for the issues with the doorbuster tv we purchased Sunday during their Member's only Black Friday preview sale.  They made it right in such a way that we were able to pick a tv which better suited our needs within our shoe string budget, and DH brought it home and set it up today.  DD loves her coat, DH is glad he doesn't have to face a 2 am cold closed store on Friday morning, so now everyone is happy.  

I'm especially happy and it has nothing to do with Black Friday at all!  I now have my hands on the center for Lilly's Garden Quilt, and I've been up most - oh I see - all of the night working on it.  It now measures a glorious 56" x 88", look for an update very soon when I spread it out and photograph it.

More Wisteria Leaves

Let's look at these together now shall we?  I added more leaves to the Wisteria, and now I'm just not sure.  There is at least one of the newly added leaf clusters that I really don't like but I'm not certain where to move it to.  I really need to get all these leaves settled so I'll be able to move this piece out of the way to work on some other things before moving on to the bottom of this same border, the one that has the toadstools and the Calla Lillies.  Currently I have fused all of the upper leaves, all the Wisteria blooms, and of course the branch.  It's in there somewhere I think.  LOL, no it really is fused but the layers are certainly making it harder to see.

My sister, and as of yesterday evening mother to my first niece (okay the first one I didn't marry into having), suggested a hummingbird might be collecting nectar near the wisteria.  I was thinking perhaps in that bottom right corner there, but now I wonder, what about hidden in the cascades of flowers?  I found some nice embroidered patches, I might try one of those.  What do you think?  I do worry about plopping it down in the center though as that will have the large 20" embroidered center there...

And thank you yesterday for your kind works about all my leaves.  That sure felt nice after three days of cutting them.  Oh I'd stop and place some and then say "ugh, need more" so back I'd go...

Wisteria Leaves Update

Hello there.  How have you been?  I've been busy making dog dresses, and have come back around to working on Lilly's Garden Quilt.  The leaves are slow going, but I think I have enough now.  What do you think?

All of the individual flowers as well as all the details within the leaves will be quilted in later.

Wisteria Branch Growth

...And I don't mean plant growth.  Now I thought I was settled on pink Wisteria blooms but now I'm not so sure.  What about both purple and pink?

Progress on Lilly's Garden Quilt

The Beginnings of Lilly's Garden Quilt

Today was a delightful day to be holed up in the sewing room.  If you were in yours I'm certain you understand and if not, hey maybe next time right?  I have been working on the Lilly's Garden Quilt.  After fretting for a while, I overcame my fear of cutting the embroidered fairy blocks wrong; you know a slip of the blade or reading the mark wrong.  My fears were unfounded and everything flowed nicely from there.

For floor space I have shown the top and bottom together, but in fact there is a big garden scene planned for the center that is missing and the teal fabric border will go all around that.

I have started on the applique as well and have made the Wisteria branch, but at this time it looks more like a large chunky log and is rather boring so you'll have to look at that after I add the leaves and depending on how that looks perhaps not until after I add the flowers too!  Did you sew anything today?  Here on the Gulf Coast I'm certain it is hotter than it was even in July, yuck!  Good thing for air conditioning hu?

Lilly's Garden Quilt Back

Lilly's Garden Quilt Back Flimsy

The first shipment of fabric for Lilly's Garden Quilt arrived Saturday, right after I'd put Earth Turtles on the quilt  frame, so I knew I needed to hurry up already so that I could work on something new and more fun.  I don't have the embroidered garden centerpiece for the front of the quilt so I went ahead and pieced the back first.  These are 16" pinwheels on point, but instead of putting the blocks in the center and using plain setting triangles I instead made pieced triangles.  This added a bit more math and effort but I feel the results are worth it.  The fabrics I selected for nearly the entire quilt are wonderful batiks which were very nice to work with.  The swirl and the large block fabrics both had more purple in them than I realized from their swatches but the effect works well together.  I also think that my choices of quilting threads will pull the tones of this back one way or another depending on the colors I select.  What do you think?

Layouts and Fabric Issues

Lilly's Quilt Front

The other day when looking at the charms I would be using in Lilly's Garden Quilt, I discovered many of the fabrics I'd selected were listed on back order.  No time like now to be proactive right?  So I popped them a note asking when everything would be avail again.  The response was swift but the answer was not a pleasing on.  They are not expected in until Jan./Feb. of next year, and the recommend I select something else.  Well I'd tried that and wasn't having much luck so selected a different online fabric store and revised the layout of the front to suit.  The colors for the applique are divine!  Not that you can really tell that with the bit of line drawing I've thrown there to show what it will look like.

Below you will find the back that so far I like best.  EQ tells me I have made something like 35 revisions, but I think it's more like 10 okay maybe 15 different layouts.  The blue is picked up from the borders, the light of the stars is the same fabric that the fairies are embroidered on to.  As for that purple and the green those are from the fabrics I have selected for the Wisteria applique.  Oh and lastly the deep green squares are the applique fabric for the calla lily leaves.  

Lilly's Garden Quilt Back Star Option

There is just one problem and that is were all of you come in.  What can I do about the way the purple vertical border dumps into the black?  I thought a HST would work, but it doesn't.  I tried splitting it half black and half purple and that made the black border look odd and then I tried  splitting it half purple and half blue and that provided an off balanced look.  Suggestions Please!

I have also been working on something else.  This time it's something for me.  Just for me, okay and by default my DH; for all those times when I have to put a comforter on my own bed and wonder why I don't have one of my own handmade beauties for my bed.  Do you recall this fabric?  Oh yes I thought you might.  When I was digging for the perfect something or other quilty answer for another quilt I found a pattern in an old McCall's quilting magazine called Mandala you can see the original quilt here.   

Add caption

Mandala Spirograph Quilt

Well I just knew it was the perfect answer to my spirograph fabric shown above and I have not only been hard at work trying to make all the colors and tones work together, I've had the help of my friend Vicki (thankfully).  The fabrics aren't set in stone yet, but isn't coming together nicely?

Because I'm a nut, each circle will be turned edge hand appliqued. With both the smallest and medium sizes of circles coming from the panel as shown above. The background fabric is a circling swirl.  Though I do plan to use true black for my HST's. 

Talk about having my burners full.  Not to mention the top and backing of a quick baby quilt that I finished up today, but that is a story for tomorrow when the camera battery is all charged back up!

Lilly's Garden Layout 1

Eye of the Beholder

Yesterday I finished up the first layout option for this quilt.  I was planning on making more than one but my friend already loves it, so this is the quilt.  It will be quite a bit more natural looking when the real applique is added.  What do you think?  This quilt is using 4 charm packs, Wisteria will be appliqued in the upper left, and then moving clockwise I have added some butterflies, last night I found a beautiful method using hand dyed fabrics, then from there I will place a cluster of Giant Calla Lilies.  Then in the bottom left hand corner I plan to place a cluster of toadstools.  How magical!

I call this one Sunset.

This quilt will be reversible, with a more simple back.  Something not to flashy, but I haven't stumbled on just the right design yet.  Any thoughts?  The purpose of this second side is to provide a less "magical" side of the quilt for when friends and so forth come to visit.  A Muggle side as it were.  Sue would be horrified to know after typing that I picked up her book to see if there was anything there that might help.  Maybe her Poppy Twist, there is a nice sub-design there that I never noticed...

Lonestar Quilt-a-long Day September

Hidey Ho There!  It's my birthday!  Yes, it sure is, and I'd tell you my age too, but this is the Internet and you all might hunt me down and stalk me.

My Lonestar hasn't changed since the last time I posted about it but my mother did give me an Amazon gift card, so likely I will be using that to order those Fabrico Pens that I need for the Swirls in the border.  While I'm at it I have another project that I'm planning, I've been working on this one for about three hours this afternoon and it will likely need some Tsukineko Platinum ink, so that will make for a nice joint order.  What have I been working on?  Well I'm calling it Lilly's Garden, and it is a contract quilt.  I am using embroidered fairy blocks from a friend and those are already placed within the quilt.  I'll be using charm packs for my piano border which should look very nice.  What you're not seeing is the embroidered garden scene that will grace the middle that isn't started yet, as well as the Wisteria branch that will drape in the upper left corner of the blue and green, and a group of giant white calla lilies will bloom in the lower right corner.  From there little toadstools will wander out from the calla's off to the left.  I'll be posting those as I make more progress on this mock up.

My inspiration is this McKenna Ryan Quilt Bella Garden and while I tried to make her peacock fabric work for the background it just fought the colors of the fairies to much.