Bramble Blooms II Top

Bramble Blooms II

I think I'm finished with the top now.

Bramble Blooms has been a slow improv do-your-own-thing in a series quilt along hosted by Audrey at Quiltyfolk. 

This is my second top in a series of what is to be three quilts. 

For my applique border I chose to add wild roses in the four corners. 

I made my own wild rose and leaf templates...

...and I made bias vines for the first time in my life. 

I did needle turn applique. 

And I added some embroidered details to the wild roses. 

My first Bramble Bloom post is about the fabric piles for the series of three quilts and gives the reason why lime green and orange are the base colors in all three quilts.  (Because I don't really like that color combo, believe it or not!)

In addition to the base of orange and lime green each quilt has fabrics added in another color. Bramble Blooms II has pink added. 

My Bramble Bloom I top had purple added. 

And sew on...

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

Dec. 28 - Oh what beautiful weather for December! The temps were in the 50s so I went out and sowed my gifted wildflower seeds in my patch out front. The addition of those seeds filled in the patch nicely. 

 

Cherry Baskets and Bramble Blooms

Cherry Basket

That's the actual name of the quilt block and I made my blocks all in cheery cherry fabrics. 

I've been big stitch hand quilting the blocks with red perle 8. 

I've also finished the wild rose and leaf needle turn applique on the second corner of my Bramble Blooms II quilt. I was going to see how I liked just doing the applique in opposing corners before I went on to do all four corners. I've decided I need to put the wild roses in all four corners. And before all is said and done I will probably add a few appliqued butterflies. 

The previous blog post about the first corner. 

Bramble  Blooms is an improv-do-your-own-thing Quilt Along hosted by Audrey at Quilty Folk.  This is my second quilt that will be a series of 3 quilts. 

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

And sew on...

***

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

Nov. 30 - Pink sky at sunrise. Golden glow at sunset. 

 

Bramble Blooms II Update

Audrey from Quilty Folk is hosting a Quilt Along (QAL) called Bramble Blooms - an "informal, structured, yet unquestionably improv. style of QAL" that will include prompts for making a series of 3 quilts. 

Our first step of the Bramble Blooms QAL was to make three piles of fabrics for the three quilts in the series. All three of my piles started with orange and lime green bits and pieces. Each of the three piles had more greens added plus an additional color. Bramble Bloom I had purple added. Bramble Bloom II has pink added. Bramble Bloom III will include aqua/turquoise. 

I completed the top for Bramble Blooms I and now am working on Bramble Blooms II. 

I completed the Bramble Blooms I center piece  back in May. 

" BBII: First Border Prompt

Putting together the first border in the 2nd Bramble Blooms quilt. Making connections with the first BB quilt but trying for a new look."

The first border contains 8 inch Quarter Square Triangles (QSTs) but instead of lime green and orange like the center piece the blocks are made of other greens and pink. AND instead of alternating the colors of the blocks in the layout like I did with the centerpiece I matched up the greens and the pink/orange in the second border. Doesn't really seem like a border but that's how I introduced pink into the quilt and I was not really feeling inspired to do much of anything after thinking about it for a long while. 

" BBII: Second Border Prompt

Sewing the second and last border onto the quilt. Considering making it with random pieces of fabric in a simple yet improv. style. Adding applique motifs in the same style as the first BBI quilt. The choice to include bias vine, including a tutorial for making your own bias vine without any special tools. "

Ok. So, I've never added an applique border let along an improv appliqued  border. So, I've never made a bias vine or bias binding for anything.  I know it is recommended that the applique be done before it is added to the quilt; however, I don't think I can do that so I've gone and added the border - that lime green, pink and white floral. I'm thinking I will applique some vining roses going around the corners. That means I will make some bias vines for the first time and add some needle turned rose leaves. And then, I hope to add some ruched roses if I can remember how to make them from those days long ago when I used to do quite a bit of crazy quilting.  If my ruched roses don't turn out then I might try some broderie perse roses.   So, if I get as far as rambling roses in my corners then I might add some butterflies to the rest of the border. Or not. 

So my next step is to make a bias vine. I've cleared off my little 18 x 24 cutting mat now I just need to gather my vine fabrics and go for it. 

And sew on...

***

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

October 27 - Beautiful pink sky at sunrise. 

AND I finished a book! - I Will Close My Eyes by Amy Fillion.  Barbara, Martha's best friend since the age of 3 passes away. 101 year old Martha remembers their lives together.  This is not the usual type of book I read; however, I have to say it was light reading and a pretty good book that covered a lot of different life issues and how they were dealt with by different characters. 

 

Bramble Blooms II QAL - The Centerpiece

Bramble Blooms II Centerpiece

32 x 40

Audrey (Quilty Folk blog) has posted the first prompt for the second quilt in the Bramble Bloom improv quilt along.  We are to piece a center with a solid connection to our first quilt in the series. 

This is my Bramble Blooms I top.   See those 8 inch Quarter Square Triangle (QST) cornerstones in the last border? 

That is my "solid connection" to Bramble Blooms I.   I made 8 inch QSTs in lime green and orange for my Bramble Blooms II centerpiece.   

I'll use lime green and orange as the base colors in all three series of Bramble Blooms quilts. And actually, my anvil quilt blocks in orange and lime green started my own personal series of quilts made with orange and lime green - two colors I'm not particularly fond of. 

A few years ago I assembled a small stack of oranges and lime greens in response to an AdHoc Improv Challenge to pick a color palette.    I challenged myself to use a color palette of colors I don't really like (orange and lime green) and to see if I could make a quilt I do like.   I did end up making 80 eight inch Anvil blocks in lime green and orange but still have not assembled them into a quilt top so I'm not sure yet if I met the challenge - a quilt I like in colors I don't really like. 

So I'm using a lot of leftovers from my Anvil Quilt in the Bramble Blooms quilts. In fact, all of the QSTs in the centerpiece were 4.5 inch Anvil Quilt scraps. I used the Easy Angle Companion ruler to cut pieces for the QSTs from those 4.5 inch strips that were long enough.  

And sew on...

****

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

May 25 - Met up with a very short visit with a fellow Stashbuster who was in the area. She gave me some scraps and flannel pieces and a big hug. 

May 26 - It rained most of the morning. The sun came out in the afternoon and dried up all the rain so the itsy bitsy spider could get up his spout again. Well, actually, none of that was cause for celebration but I did get a visit from a hummingbird in the afternoon. I have a lot of pots of flowers on the deck (most not in bloom yet). I can see the deck from my spot on the couch in the living room through the double glass doors. A hummingbird evidently saw its reflection in the door and admired itself for a bit. It sure seemed like it was trying to tell me something.   Over the years we have frequently seen hummingbirds admiring themselves in the deck doors. That made me do a little research on hummingbirds to see if it could be the same one returning every year to see us.  😀 Yes, they do return to the same area to nest every year and they live on average 5 years but can live up to 10. Supposedly there are credible tales of hummingbirds recognizing and befriending people. To some, sighting a hummingbird signals that challenging times are over and healing can begin. To others, these tiny fliers are an inspiring sign of hope and good luck. Hummingbirds also can have a spiritual significance and mean the spirit of a loved one is near. A flock of hummingbirds can be referred to as a charm, a bouquet, a glittering, a hover, a shimmer, or a tune.

 

Bramble Blooms QAL - Second Border Added

Bramble Blooms #1

52 x 56

This is the first quilt top in a series of 3 in a quilt along hosted by Audrey at Quilty Folk. 

The second border prompt is "Put together a border that includes adding 4-patch, 9-patch, 16-patch or even larger patchwork blocks. You can set your blocks side by side {continuous block layout} or 'on point'. This border can be any width you like. It does not need to have the patchwork blocks throughout--use as few or as many patch blocks as you think will look good!"

Before I added my sixteen patch blocks I added a multicolor green coping border to bring it up to a width and length divisible by 2 since I was going to be using 2 inch (finished) squares and QSTs in my sixteen patch blocks.  

Since the base colors I chose to use for all the Bramble Blooms series of quilts are orange and lime green (mostly scraps) and since the accent color I added to use in my Bramble Blooms quilt #1 is purple those are the colors I used for my sixteen patch blocks.   

I decided to make QSTs since they looked kind of like butterflies and I had appliqued butterflies in the first border. I decided to use mostly lime green for the squares and in all the QSTs because I had a lot of lime green 2.5 inch width scraps I could use that were leftover from making Anvil blocks. 

I don't usually audition anything. I usually just think of something in my mind and go for it. I don't have a design wall.  If I did I would never like anything I see, second guess myself and dither my time away. 

So it is always fun to see how the top looks when I hang it out on the line for photos. 

I think I want this to be a little longer and was thinking of taking off the corner stones and just adding another row of sixteen patches to top and bottom but for now I am going to leave it as is and wait until I finish Bramble Blooms #2 and #3 tops to make a decision. 

More about the Bramble Blooms QAL.

My previous blog posts about the Bramble Blooms QAL.

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

*****

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

April 19 - Asparagus! I have a prolific little patch and I have been eating asparagus every day in some form or another.  I love it roasted with a little olive oil and salt and pepper. I use the leftovers chilled in a salad of spring greens, goat cheese, candied pecans and cranberries with balsamic vinegar dressing. A few times I've added leftover chicken breast slices to the salad. I've had a few fritattas with asparagus and tonight I'm having cream of asparagus soup. 

April 20 - A little surprise package of fabric scraps. Oh, happy day! 

 

Progress On Some Applique Projects

Bramble Blooms QAL

The prompt for the first border is: "Add a border with repeat applique motifs to your centerpiece, with quarter-triangle style cornerstone blocks."

If you read any of my previous posts about this QAL you would know that there will be three improv quilts made in this series and our first prompt was to make three piles of fabrics to use in making.  I am using a little box of orange and lime green scraps as the base fabrics for all three quilts. Then for this one I am adding the color purple. 

So, my repeat applique motif is a butterfly. Remember this is improv, okay? And since my colors for this quilt are orange, lime green and purple my butterflies are made from some of those lime green scraps. 

I used needleturn applique for my center piece of Coneflowers but I did not think I wanted to use that method for little butterflies with point everywhere on them so I did turned edge applique with interfacing and blanket stitch. 

My polka dot border is 6 inches wide.   After I get the butterflies all appliqued in place I need to look for some of my longer needles I used when I did a lot of crazy quilting because I want to add a bullion stitch body to the butterflies and after that I will embroider some antennae in backstitch or running stitch. 

I am using two strands of a variegated purple and lime green embroidery thread. I will use perle #12 for the antennae and the bullion stitch bodies if I find my long needles. 

After the butterflies are finished I will work on my "quarter-triangle style cornerstone blocks".

One thing I have learned about applique is that I am not really very fond of all the prep work involved. 

And also you may remember that I have been working on emptying a bag and bin of rose and heart scraps. One of the quilts to come out of those scraps is a Dresden Fan.  I'm not sure how these little six inch blocks are all going to go together at this point. For right now I am just using scraps and making blocks and trying to empty out some scraps bags and bins.   I will probably be able to make more than one quilt from all those scraps but for right now I'm concentrating on this one. 

I have appliqued more blocks for my collection since my last post. 

More finished blocks but I have not removed pins yet. 

And more blocks are pinned and ready for applique. 

And sew on...

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

***

CELEBRATE! (My word of the year)

Jan. 20 - I finished a good book - For All The World by Jean Grainger.  It is book one of a series called Cullen's Celtic Cabaret. I started on book 2 in the series A Beautiful Ferocity. I have read quite a variety of books written by Jean Grainger. I do a lot of reading when I wake up in the middle of the night and unfortunately reading this book did not help me get back to sleep. 

 

Bramble Blooms: Border Progress

The next prompt for the Bramble Blooms Quilt Along is "Add a border with repeat applique motifs to your centerpiece, with quarter-triangle style cornerstone blocks."

So far I have added 6.5 inch borders around to my 22 x 24 center. 

Now I'm ready for some applique. I'm going to try to work on that a little bit today. I'm not going to reveal what my "repeat applique motif" will be until I actually know I'm not out of my mind thinking of what I have in mind.   But I can give you a clue to the color...remember our first step to this series of 3 improv quilts was to pull three piles of fabrics? Well, I said all three of my quilts will have a base of orange and lime green because I have a box of small chunks of oranges and lime greens left over from anotehr quilt.   Then I will add different color accents to the three quilts. Well, this first quilt has purple accents.  So which color of those pulled for this quilt has not made an appearance yet? 

And sew on...

******

Celebrating: (word of the year)

Jan. 11 - Remember the other day when I said I won 27 FQs in a random drawing (Stashbusters UFO Challenge)? They arrived! Some are already designated for project boxes! 

 

Coneflowers, A Duck in a Dress, and a Sock

I have finished the second prompt to the Bramble Blooms QAL - "Add simple floral applique to your centerpiece background." 

I chose Coneflowers as my simple floral. I did needleturn applique - freezer paper templates on top. I played around with adding some leaves to my Coneflowers  but they just did not look right to me no matter where I placed them.  So now I guess I am ready for the next step of this QAL.   

I think she is a duck but she might be a chick. This is where I am with this cross stitch. When finished it will be the center of a baby quilt. 

And guess what!!! I actually finished crocheting a sock! 

And I think it fits although maybe the heel could use a little adjustment. Maybe... Not bad for my first crocheted sock. Pretty wild, though! I guess now I need to complete the second one or make a sock monkey.

So that's the progress on my slow stitching projects. Until next time...

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

 

Bramble Blooms QAL Step 2

I'm particpating in Audrey's (blog at Quilty Folk) Bramble Blooms Quilt Along. 

Step 2 is to add floral applique to the background center piece made in Step 1. 

My Step 1 blog post. 

In my Step 1 blog post I mentioned that I thought my flower would be some purple coneflowers. Well, coneflowers also come in other colors like orange (and yellow and white) so I will be appliqueing some purple and orange coneflowers to my background like you see above. I keep moving the leaves around so not sure where they will end up when and done. 

This is what I was thinking for layout but I don't want to mess with making bias cut stems to bend so my stems straightened up a bit from my first thoughts. 

Here's my coneflower doodling before I cut my paper template. I made a small template for the flower petals and cone and then used my printer to enlarge it for the bigger ones.   

I am using purple and orange scraps you see above for my coneflowers and the green scraps for my stems. The yellow with red polka dots will be the cone on the coneflower  My next step is to make freezer paper templates from my paper templates. I will iron them to the right side of fabric and cut out shapes leaving a scant 1/4 inch around and then do some needle turn applique.  So that is going to take me awhile but I know what direction I am headed and know the path to get to my destination. 

And sew on...

 

Bramble Blooms

Audrey at Quilty Folk is hosting a new quilt along entitled Bramble Blooms.  Applique is not normally my "thing" but I was looking through some of my UFOs for some more handwork projects so I can stay closer to my husband for awhile until he is well enough to do a few more things for himself.  I have several quilts I can hand quilt once I find backings and get them pin basted, some embroidery that needs to be done on a few quilt blocks for a '30s UFO, a bunch of old valentine themed crazy quilt blocks I need to assemble and finish for either a bed or table runner, yarn to crochet wash cloths, hats or socks, dishtowels to embroider.   Well, Audrey's QAL came along at the right time for me - another hand work project I can add to my list.  I have followed Audrey's blog for a number of years and have always admired her quilts although about the only thing in common between our quilts is a "make do" attitude. So maybe I will learn a thing or two (or three or four or gazillion) and have some fun. I am an old dog hoping to learn new tricks!!! 

The first step is to assemble 3 similar stacks of fabric since the QAL will result in a series of 3 quilts. I don't normally start with stacks when I make quilts. I usually sew with scraps and all colors so I rarely have to make a decision about what fabrics to use. (Since I retired a few years ago I have enjoyed leaving a lot of decision making behind). I do have a lot of my small stash that is not scraps divided up into collections like '30s repros, rose prints, travel, animals, civil war repros.  So I guess rather than start with stacks if I am not sewing with scraps I start with a collection.   

Well, last year I did start with a stack in response to an AdHoc Improv Challenge to pick a color palette.    I challenged myself to use a color palette of colors I don't really like (orange and lime green) and to see if I could make a quilt I do like.   I did end up making 80 eight inch Anvil blocks in lime green and orange but still have not assembled them into a quilt top so I'm not sure yet if I met the challenge - a quilt I like in colors I don't really like. 

So all that to say I still have the stack of orange and lime green fabrics left over sitting in a small box. I never got them put away.   That what you see in the photo above. That is the stack and colors I am starting with- oranges and lime greens. 

And if needed I have a small bag of scraps left over from making my anvil blocks.  I think those are mostly 3.5 and 2 inch scraps but at the moment don't remember. 

You know how I always like to add a bit of whimsy and fun to my quilts...well, I dug around and found a few more small pieces of lime greens to add to my stack of limes. Sometimes I like to do really weird things and add the unexpected fabric or two to a quilt.  So we shall see if I end up working a few cucumber slices into my quilts. 

And here's a few more small orange pieces to add to the oranges. 

So all three quilts in my Bramble Blooms series will use the limes and oranges. But then...

In one quilt I will add purples to the limes and oranges (and maybe a few purple onions and eggplant).

Along with the oranges, limes and purples there might be tiny bits of yellow and pink thrown in because I do like how they look with purple. 

I really want to try to stay with saturated colors but since  I don't really know where I am going with these quilts (and I don't have all that many larger pieces of saturated purple) I found a few small pieces of some lighter purples to add to stack #1. 

Stack #2 has the same limes and oranges to pick from as stack #1 but I'm going to add blue greens...

...and a greater variety of greens - not just lime greens. (I might also add a touch of basil, a few peas and brussel sprouts if I get a chance). 

Stack #3 has the same orange and limes as stacks #2 and #1  (if there are any left when I get here to ##3) with the addition of pinks. But I don't have many saturated pinks so that idea may be subject to change. 

Along with making stacks we are supposed to make a background for the centerpiece.  I used a few lighter orange scraps for a piece that measures 21.5 x 24.5. 

The next step is to add flowers to the center piece.   Since my stack #1 contains purple I am thinking about purple coneflowers. I also need to find my book on applique. (Have I mentioned that applique is not normally my "thing")? 

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework