Magazine that I'm working from
Today I thought I’d share some photos of my brand new project that I started while on my annual Bubby Vacation in Red Deer at the end of March. I was saving this project as a reward for sticking to my finishing up schedule for three months and had gathered all the fabrics together to take with me. I hadn’t cut into a single thing until I was settled into the hotel room and then just went gung-ho!
A brand new project
So this is the quilt that I’m making from the Primitive Quilts and Projects Spring 2017 magazine. It’s a good size, 78″ x 78″, and offers up lots of opportunity for my own interpretation. I love the combination of piecing and applique, but what really intrigued me was the unusual border treatment. I had a great time choosing fabrics for this quilt and went in a totally different direction for both colour and style, ending up with quite a modern look.
Large checkered stars
The pattern calls for eight of these large 12″ star blocks, which are a main feature in the design of the quilt. I used some of my treasured Liberty of London cottons in the centers of the stars and a lovely Grunge cotton for the star points. The background fabric is soft and subtle with a beautiful thistle print, reflecting my Scottish heritage.
Smaller star blocks
Next on the list are these little six inch star blocks that will be surrounded by sashing to bring them up to twelve inches. I need to make 24 of these and so far, have completed six. I’m using a couple of different neutral background fabrics for these blocks just to add some visual interest. The stars will be sashed with various shades of orchid and violet to really make them pop.
Bare baskets
The main design element in this quilt are the five basket blocks that are featured in the middle, forming a medallion of sorts. The baskets are pieced and then bouquets are appliqued on top. I pieced my baskets using five different taupey gray Civil War reproduction cottons and used the same light tan background for all five blocks.
Basket Number 2 still in progress
At first, I was planning to do all the applique work in cotton, using the traditional needle turn technique, but while shopping the vendors at the Central Alberta Quilt Show I found some amazing hand dyed wools that stopped me in my tracks. I am now combining both traditional applique and primitive wool applique to each of the bouquets of flowers and foliage, while adding some interesting embroidery stitches to enhance the wool. I’ve gathered many of my own hand dyed threads, including wools, pearl cottons, and embroidery floss, to use in this project and I’m really pleased with the results so far.
Basket Block #1 is complete
The applique and embroidery work is definitely more time consuming than machine piecing but I’m finding it so lovely to just sit back, relax, and do handwork for a change. This just might get me back in the mood for some of those other half done handwork projects that have lingered on the design wall for far too long, and perhaps I’ll make some adjustments to my ’17 in 2017′ project list. Keep watching for progress reports on this new quilt project, even though I will be setting it aside for the next two weeks in order to finish off a few other mandatory commitments that have end-of -the-month deadlines attached to them, I don’t think I’ll be able to tear myself away from it completely. Those baskets are too much fun :o)
Happy stitching, love carol
The wool and cotton applique look amazing! Your blocks are so nice, even though the camera doesn’t do the colours justice. What fun!!! Now I want to play too! xoxo
Thanks for the nice comment, Tammy! It has been quite difficult to tear myself away from this project but duty calls and I must get my mini in the mail soon, and there is another deadline looming that requires some longarm quilting done too :o)