Bramble Blooms II - Link-up

Back from a long blogging hiatus, between life in general and a camera that died in mid-October and attempting to learn all the nuances of a new one. I've been busy working on the second border for my version of Bramble Blooms II.  And without further ado, here it is in all its just-completed glory.

A quick review of my Bramble Blooms progress (more for my own record-keeping than anything else), here is my first fabric pull at the beginning of this series.

I had early-on decided that this series would have a loose theme of "seasons" and Bramble Blooms I represented early spring tulips and the typically gray rather dismal weather we experience in April around here.  At this point I'd already diverged from my initial fabric pile, adding a couple of Japanese yukata fabrics that kind of took over as the focus of this particular quilt.   Applique efforts in the borders consisted of half-circles which were then repeated in BB II's second border.  This is BB-1 as it sits currently awaiting additional border inspiration.

With Bramble Blooms II, I returned to the original fabric pull, and even utilized quite a bit of the original inspiration fabric.  An attempt at replicating Sujata Shah's old Italian blocks for the center wasn't as easy as I'd thought, so stopped at just four blocks.  Didn't really care for these blocks at this point, but didn't have any more of a couple of the fabrics to start over, so they stayed.

Then began a series of "filler" borders until I arrived at the "official" first border using the nine-patch blocks as suggested by Audrey's first border prompt. At this point the quilt seemed to be taking on a happy, more summery vibe and we were ready to attempt the second border prompt.

This was the most intensive hand applique work I've ever done outside of Quilty 365 from several years ago.  In keeping with the lighter vibe of the 'early summer' theme and the rather wonky look of the central blocks, the second border attempts to achieve a more informal look with the floral shapes used - I've called them summer tulips.  

I don't consider either of these quilts finished as they both need at least one additional border to bring them to a useable size for anything other than wall quilts, and with BB-2 the need to stabilize the outer edge as the background fabric turned out to be quite ravelly.  Both may see more action in the new year after a couple other projects reach the finished stage.

Linking with Audrey at Quilty Folk with thanks for your constant encouragement and inspiration!

Bramble Blooms 2.0 - first borders

 How did August go by so fast!!??   I finally had a chance to get back to Bramble Blooms 2.0  a couple weeks ago, to add the first(?) border to this rather feeble start.

I wasn't totally (or even remotely) enamored with these blocks, but I loved that polkadot fabric and had used nearly all there was in these blocks, so decided to give it a try.   Waste not!

Mulling over possibilities for the outer sashing:

Loved the diagonal plaid cornerstones echoing the center blocks.

There were an abundance of flying geese left over from making Oriental Brambles (aka Bramble Blooms 1.5 - see previous post) so why not add them here?

Audrey's suggestion for the first border was to include something from Bramble Blooms 1, suggesting 4 or 9-patch blocks, in a low-key blending look so as not to distract from the next appliqued (final) border.  The next couple photos are some test backgrounds for this "first" background.

What finally seemed best were a little variety of light gray and blue-gray backgrounds, along with mostly pink 9-patch blocks.

Then my brain apparently turned to mush, since there was no way to make all those 9-patch blocks on point fit together into a neat square.  I'm pretty sure the math cells in my brain died after my 75th birthday, because do you think I could even figure out how big to make a coping border?????  Sigh.

Happily, for every problem there is a solution, in this case after finding that perfect mustard fabric for the coping border, the magic happened with addition of corner blocks and a few fudged seams in the 9-patch blocks until everything was forced into submission.

I still need to tweak the lower right corner to attempt to lessen the ripple, though there are plenty of other little ripples going on in this top!   I'm planning to leave the scraggly outer edges as they are now until it's time to add the next border.

OK, on to a rush baby quilt, though I thought there was plenty of time, doctors have decided to induce labor tomorrow.  I'd hoped to have the quilt ready for grandparents to take with them when they make the 7 hour trip to see their precious new one soon.   All for today!

June Blooms and Bramble II

 A couple weeks ago Audrey at Quilty Folk posted the first prompt for the second quilt in our Bramble Blooms QAL series.  She suggested the center of the medallion be created of pieced blocks, perhaps echoing the quarter triangle blocks in the first border of BB-I.  

I've had a copy of Sujata Shah's Cultural Fusion Quilts for several years but had never attempted any of her patterns.  It seemed like it would be easy enough to create those Crossroads blocks, but proved otherwise for me.  Especially the cutting - good thing you can't see the jagged edges on the backs of my first (and only) attempt.  Silly me, cutting my first four blocks from good fabrics instead of really old and undesirably ugly scraps!  Though after ripping apart the first block 3 times, I finally figured out that pinning the seams every half inch or so made a "fairly" presentable block.  They don't lie particularly flat, but hoping the excess bias can be quilted out eventually.

When I pulled fabric for this quilt series, I had a "focus fabric" which finally has been used in this quilt center.  It is the light floral triangles in the bottom right block.  I also rather like the funky polkadot fabric, and used up  nearly all of the small piece I had in these blocks.  The blocks were made from 9-1/2 inch squares and they finished at 7-1/2 inches.  

My plan is to use some pastel sashing around the blocks, though likely not the one shown here as it seems a bit too pale.  I'll probably wait until we receive the second prompt before finalizing that decision.  

OK then.  This past week the flower beds have been gorgeous with peonies and our first purple poppy of the season, and a glorious one it is!

This bumblebee appeared to be sound asleep!

Sammy Cat generally runs off when I attempt to photograph him, but the possibility of a rubdown on the back walk was just too tempting.

All stretched out (show-off!)

Happy summer weekend to all!

Bramble Blooms I - second border and linking to the QAL

Update to original April 17 post, and linking with Audrey at Quilty Folk.

The second border prompt from Audrey for Bramble Blooms I was a difficult one for me to wrap my little brain around!  Probably because my first border using the yukata fabric lent a more formal look to the quilt, and the idea of 4, 9 or 16 patch squares as a second border didn't fit what I'd imagined at all.  So, between bouts of dithering about that, I got busy and added a few extra touches to the center, that always felt a bit empty to me.  Birds sounded appealing, so a bluebird magically appeared.  A little extra leaf was also tacked onto the edge of the flower pot/basket.

And, because my husband loves doves, we needed one of those as well, along with a branch to perch upon.

Then we messed around with some uneven 9-patch blocks.  

Definitely not!

On point?

Not feeling the love here either!

Squares?

Big fat fail!  

The gray yukata has given this quilt a moody vibe, much like our typical April weather - overcast, rainy and otherwise gray and dreary.  It really needed something to lighten the mood just a little but the nine-patch blocks were not going to make that happen in a way that was pleasing to me.  So, back to the drawing board.  Maybe just a few nine-patch blocks in the corners?

Then, from one of the "chunk" bins I found a long strip of this tone-on-tone fabric that had been the back of my Quilty 365 quilt!  Blending very nicely with the print appliques from the first border.  

Ahh, yes!  This is more like it!  Does it even matter that the golden fabric is poinsettias??  So, below is the final rendition of border number 2.  And yes, I did eventually stitch down that little leaf at the right edge of the flower pot to finish it off.  

There may or may not be at least one more wider border added since the quilt right now is less than 48x48 inches.  Too large for a wall hanging in the currently available spaces, and too small for a useable throw quilt.  But for now, there are several other projects I need to get busy on, especially the quilts I need to finish for the quilt auction at the end of summer.

The other possibility is giving one of the quilts hanging in my sewing room for the past ten years a long sabbatical and finishing off BB1 just as it is now.  That idea is growing on me!  Still, it will be awhile before a finished quilt happens.  Life, you know!

I'll leave you with a little sneak peek at the next one in the pipeline.  First two rounds of borders stitched during our quilt ministry meeting a couple weeks ago.  Next border is underway and nearly finished.  More photos soon.

Looking forward to seeing what Audrey has in store for us with Bramble Blooms II!  

Bramble Blooms First Border and other projects

 This past weekend I finally bit the bullet and sewed up the first set of borders for my version of Bramble Blooms I.  

I decided to go with my original idea and make all four border panels from the same stylized yukata fabric, adding half-circle applique accents in areas of plain background along the inside edges.  You might be aware that floral yukata fabrics often reverse direction of the design every so often, which facilitates the creation of kimonos with both front and back being right-side-up without the necessity of cutting and creating shoulder seams.  This reversal happened in the top border you see above.  

I'm quite happy with the way this border turned out, but am still not totally happy with my center panel.  It seems like it needs "something" but I don't know what.  Perhaps a bird or a butterfly?  Appliqued or embroidered, or quilted?  I'm open to any and all suggestions!

Aside from this project, I spent the majority of January cleaning up the "scrap corner" of the sewing room.  All the random piles are now neatly housed in smallish bins of several size squares, narrow strips, "wide" strips generally over 2-1/2 inches, long lengths of binding, and a big bin called "chunks." That's pieces larger than 6-1/2 inches but less than a fat quarter.  The amazing thing is that I've actually consulted several of those neatly stacked bins when searching for a particular size square, where the piles were totally ignored when they just sat jumbled in the corner.  

Remember this quilt top?  I've been ever-so-slowly hand quilting it off and on in the evenings.  

It should have been done long ago but a piece of rogue batting got used for this one, and it's a bugger to needle.  I'm hoping to finish hand quilting the last three panels in the next couple weeks, and then machine quilt all the sashings/borders and be done with it.

The historic panel quilt is partially quilted now, awaiting the day when the table around the Janome is cleared so that project can proceed.  The panel itself is now hand quilted, but the borders are being machine quilted.  Soon I hope.

And, just because distractions/squirrels always seem to find me, a friend at our quilting ministry was cleaning up several bins in our storage area last week and came out with these pieces - could I resist - not a chance!

The large piece is a home dec fabric of unknown age. It has been cut into on all sides, but enough is intact that a good size central medallion piece can be cut from it.  First though, a wash on the delicate cycle since I have no idea whether it will wash well.  The last piece of home dec fabric that I used in a quilt border washed well with no shrinkage and had a similar hand, so I'm hoping this one will too.  

Well, this is enough for one post.  We're expecting a snowstorm mid-week after several days of mid-50s this past week.  A very strange winter for sure.  

Til next time, happy quilting!

Bramble Blooms 1 - next steps

 It's a foggy, rainy afternoon and the internet is barely moving along.  HughesNet and rainy/snowy weather do NOT get along at all - 'nuf said ...

Anyhow, when I last posted, the center of my Bramble Blooms I was still in process of being stitched down.  When Audrey posted her guidance for the first set of borders, I was having a little fun playing with some sawtooth stars meant for a camp donation quilt for the 2024 auction.

Cheerful, yes?  Though clearly not what Audrey had in mind.  More applique, possibly a coping border and then a wider border with repeated applique was what she suggested.  I had been thinking about half circle appliques surrounding the coping border, so I set about looking for some possibilities.  

After having used a piece of Japanese yukata fabric for the flower pot in the center, that bin of fabrics was consulted again while completely ignoring my set of fabrics initially chosen for this series.  Improv????   I ended up choosing another treasured piece of yukata of which I have 4 yards (yukata fabrics are typically only 14 inches wide, so not as much fabric as you might have thought).  

A bit on the dark side, but I love the subtle colors and the repeating tulip theme.  Below you can see the tulips emerging and also my half-circle cracker box template pinned in place.   Coping border was chosen from my bin of bits and pieces set aside for the sawtooth stars quilt, but that bit of deep brownish red seems to tie the center tulips with the brownish tulip leaves in the outer border. 

Surrounding the outer edge of the coping border completely with half circles was clearly not going to work well since I didn't want them covering that flowing tulip motif.  

Right now I'm thinking intermittent half circle appliques will solve that issue.   The next thing I'll need to consider is whether to continue these fabrics around the entire border or ?  I like the idea of the undulating tulips all the way around, and hoping it won't be "overkill" if I proceed in that direction.

And no, there won't be a right-hand border of that red fabric on the right (below), it's just pinned up on the design wall so it doesn't wander away while I'm concentrating on other ongoing projects...

Last, but not least, I'm leaning toward using the green fabric shown below for the cornerstones fabric.  A lot to do before Audrey's next set of border suggestions are published!

Til next time, I hope you're having as much fun with whatever you're stitching at the moment.

Bramble Blooms I - some progress to date

While some have already completed their center applique, there always has to be someone bringing up the rear, right?  Slow but steady is my mantra for this quilt - any current project for that matter!  Improv and applique are so out of my comfort zone, yet this project and following along with Audrey's thought process as she builds her quilts is so inspiring that I couldn't resist joining in.

So, several ideas came to mind for the center applique.  First, it was sunflowers.  I got as far as sketching out a pattern and inking it onto some mylar template material, then sanity prevailed as I figured out how many individual petals would be needed to complete one flower, much less two or three as I'd planned. Saved for BB-2 or BB-3 perhaps?

Tulips looked easier for this relatively simple center, so I thought.  Stems cut and pinned, then narrowed down.  First paper tulip tryouts added.

Tried adding fabric - um, no.

At this point several things were bothering me.  First, the random (boring) placement of stems, with nothing to anchor them.  I really wanted something more cohesive, what about a vase or flower pot?

The blue funky flowers also had to go.  After rummaging through a lot of fabric pieces, I remembered the small bin of Japanese yukata fabrics I'd been collecting a few years back.  Thinking in terms of a geometric design for the flower pot, I found this fabric and folded into shape and put it up on the design wall, added some leaves - yes! 

After moving things a bit -

Then this

I think this is pretty much the final design, a bit more trimming, and the vase will be a bit shorter as the bottom edge still needs turning under and basting.   Some of the leaves need to be tweaked a bit as well.  Hoping to get the major elements marked in place and get everything off the design wall and ready for final stitching over the weekend.  

It has been a busy but satisfying week.  The laser procedure for my eye was on Monday, and was a total success beyond my wildest imagination.  I can see colors again and everything is crystal clear with sharp edges. I don't need to turn on every light in a room in order to see.   I even threaded a needle without the help of the little threader I'd been using!  The doctor, after looking at all the tests, decided that both eyes would benefit from the laser and so he went ahead.  The entire procedure for both eyes took less than ten minutes, and the result was immediate!  Prayers answered!

We had our first snow this week, now rain is predicted for the next several days.  We did enjoy several clear nights during this full moon, I always love seeing the sky by moonlight, especially with sparkling snow on the ground.  

Til next time, may peace and joy surround you this holiday season!