Hold Onto Your Heart: The Alternative Border Option

Although I am head over heels in love with the floral rose border, I have also designed a beautiful alternative border that really comes into it's own. This alternative rosette border is a perfect balance of applique and piecing. This month in Part 10 we are making the corner rosette blocks. Here's how I made mine:

Carefully follow the pattern, making sure your pieces to don't 'grow'. To help keep the size in check, start from the outside first and work inwards.

Position the leaves first, then the red petals

When you have joined the pink petals, cut away the centre to avoid bulk as per the picture below

 Then press open all seams and place into position

Next, position the motif so that you can see the centre of your pattern sheet beneath. From this point of centre, start positioning your diamond pieces.

Stitch all into place and position onto the background fabric

This is what the back looks like

 and this is a close up of my centre from the back

 The finished rosette! Make 4x.

     ' Hold Onto Your Heart' is a paid BOM   

It's a breathtaking quilt full of meaningful symbols and beauty. The floral border is a triumph which offers an additional  pieced option - making it versatile for all skill levels. Perfect for lovers and enthusiasts of applique. 

  You can start this BOM today!   

Be sure to visit my Online Quilt Group on Facebook where progress images are being shown all the time. It's a massive inspiration and I warn you, it's addictive!

Hold Onto Your Heart: The Roses

Today it's time to talk roses: I just adore these florals, they're pure romance.The roses you see here are from my gentle quilt, I haven't made my bright and cheerful version yet. Here are the fabrics I selected for my gentle basket. As you can see, I opted for a repetition of fabrics to anchor the basket and the stripes just spoke to me - I knew they'd be my handles when the time arrived.

Given my subtle color scheme, I knew straight away that the roses would have to be charcoal or a soft buttery yellow. After a lot of consideration, I decided that gentle wind blown roses would look the best on this quilt and ended up using Kashmir by Jinny Beyer. It's a gorgeous fabric that really lets these rose heads come into their own. 

Of course, these are just images taken during 'production' at all hours of the day and night. I can tell you that the roses look so much more beautiful in real life than they do on screen, they're simply irresistible. 

As always, preparation is key. 

Follow the pattern sheet closely, making sure none of your pieces 'grow'

Construct your rose heads, layering the pieces to create the full bloom.

For my leaves, I opted to sew the stem line for definition

like so

These beautiful roses are forever and I can't wait to see them in position..

     ' Hold Onto Your Heart' is a paid BOM   

It's a breathtaking quilt full of meaningful symbols and beauty. The floral border is a triumph which offers an additional  pieced option - making it versatile for all skill levels. Perfect for lovers and enthusiasts of applique. 

  You can start this BOM today!   

Be sure to visit my Online Quilt Group on Facebook where progress images are being shown all the time. It's a massive inspiration and I warn you, it's addictive!

Hold Onto Your Heart: Part 10

Part 10 is all about the baskets: I just love this stage of the quilt. There's so much room to really play around and enjoy all the elements and motifs. Once your baskets are done, it's time to work on the roses. But for now, let's focus on the baskets. Here's how I made mine.  

I had a lot of fun picking out these fabrics, they're BariJ and Tilda - somehow I think they mix together really well. 

I start my diamond motif in the centre, following the pattern and build it up from there.

As you can see, all my pieces are pre-prepped. The edges are turned and ready for me to put them into position - this makes the putting together so much easier and I can focus on keeping my motif to the pattern outline - as always, it's important to make sure nothing 'grows' during construction..

 When all the diamonds are down, the handle is placed into position 

and edges are tucked in.

 Remember to keep the top row open so you can tuck the flower stems into position.

 Now it's time to create the glorious rose heads..

check back tomorrow as I show you how I made mine..

     ' Hold Onto Your Heart' is a paid BOM   

It's a breathtaking quilt full of meaningful symbols and beauty. The floral border is a triumph which offers an additional  pieced option - making it versatile for all skill levels. Perfect for lovers and enthusiasts of applique. 

  You can start this BOM today!   

Be sure to visit my Online Quilt Group on Facebook where progress images are being shown all the time. It's a massive inspiration and I warn you, it's addictive!