Lily Rose: Stitching Down the Bouquet

I don't usually sew or blog on Saturdays - its strictly family and off screen time, but this weekend is an exception for me as I am home alone...so I thought I'd make the most of it and keep myself busy. I've had a really productive morning. After 45 minutes of tinkering on my disaster Bernina 820 machine, it randomly started sewing OK, so I decided to get stuck in.

I've been in two minds about this since last week when I was deciding how to stitch down my applique. I have put a lot of time and work into Lily Rose and at every turn, my Bernina 820 has failed me. It reduces the quality of my work and I get so furious and upset when I see hours of work being damaged by poor stitching. So just sitting down on this machine is an emotional annoyance for me, I never know if I'm going to regret it, or if it will work just fine. Today it isn't behaving 'fine', but it is behaving OK, so I made a dash for it.

I had plans to meet a friend for a quick coffee and maybe even lunch

but I called her earlier and said, 'the 820's working all of a sudden, I can't leave the house'

 So here I am later that same afternoon, blogging about it. I can afford to do that now as light is fading and I can't sew any more today anyhow. I will try again tomorrow and hope the the 820 pixies return and get the Bernina back into a good mood for me. 

Ridiculous, isn't it?

They say a good workman never blames his tools. That's too convenient for badly manufactured machines. I say a good seamstress never has to wait for her tools to be good.

Lily Rose: Hand Stitched Details

I have turn edge applique-ed all my flowers, but I haven't sewn them down into position on the background yet. Before I do, I am hand sewing some simple, but I think highly effective, sprays of greenery between the flowers, like this. Using my pattern template outline as a guide for positioning. This is just the most simple straight stitching in an embroidery thickness thread. I'm using DMC thread here throughout from my stash. 

 the camera has bleached out my background, it should be as in the image above 

 in between the flower heads

 and peaking out from behind the major leaves

Such a little detail, such a big impact. I don't mind having spent a day creating these details, I think they make the quilt all the more special.

What do you think?

WOW: Lily Rose, Flowers Finished

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

Sometimes I can stand back and say WOW about my own work. Not always, but sometimes. This is one of those times for me personally. This is how my bouquet had turned out. I love it. Naturally I'm biased, but I love the vase too. I'm so happy to have reached this stage, as I wasn't sure if I would have enough time to make this quilt. But I'm so glad I have. What do you think?

Don't you agree that this vase just zings? 

It's all thanks to that original and tricky to match up original purple moody batik...it set the mood for everything else. I love Lily Rose and already know where I'm going to hang it up so that I can see it every day. 

Although I have a release schedule for my pattern designs, when I actually get around to making them is another matter entirely! So, I'm working through Lily Rose now although it has already been 'out there' for a while. For those of you who missed Lily Rose when it was a free BOM, it's available in my shop at 50% off at the moment. I never usually have sales or discounts for my patterns - but at the moment I'm celebrating 5000 members over in my online shop which is why my patterns are on sale now. It's such a milestone that I wanted everyone to have the opportunity to 'catch up' on old patterns - especially new members, at the best possible price. Given that the next sale will be at 10,000 members (and it took 6 year years for us to reach 5,000) I don't think there'll be another sale in a long time!

I'm grateful to each of you who purchase my patterns, it's so nice to know that I have your support. Thank you. Now for me, it's more Lily Rose progress today and hopefully I'll be able to have this beauty done and quilted in the next few days. 

What's Your WOW ?

An InLinkz Link-up

AQC 2015 LE2 Workshop

Are you coming to my AQC LE2 Workshop? April is fast approaching and I'm getting excited about teaching this gorgeous class all over again (the first excitement was a few months ago when I designed it for the first time. Since then, it's been on the back burner...but not for much longer!).

Students who are enrolled in this class, please head over to the AQC 2015 dedicated page over on my website. You can do that now, by clicking here. It outlines what you need to do before the workshop so that you're class ready.

Basically you need to decide whether you want to work on a whole cloth background (that is, the background being in 1 50 x 50 inch square piece) or on a divided background (the background divided into 4 pieces).

Once you've decided on that, then all you have to do is select your applique fabrics. If you're anything like me, that's easier said than done. As you can see from the snippets here, for my LE2 wall hanging, I've opted for a red and white theme. This is a colour scheme I never tire of. I was planning on making a second Love Entwined in red and white but have realized that I won't be able to, time wise. I just don't have enough quilting years in me to get all my work done. So I've settled for making one Love Entwined and 1 LE2. It's a good compromise for me. And it means I still get to indulge my love for all things red.

For my zig zag border, I've gone with a light and dark combination, repeated. I think its very effective. And for my applique fabrics generally, I've selected reds and red prints in hues of light, medium and dark to create depth in my pieces. I've also dug out all my interesting scraps. LE2 is just calling out for fussy cutting and broderie perse, so if you have a fabric you love or really want to use, this is a great quilt to showcase your eye for detail. 

Isn't this a charming fabric?

I'm fussy cutting it!

and I'm having so much fun with those little details too. See this white stitch line? I hand stitched that in after turn edging the stem. Don't you think this little dash of white makes all the difference? It just picks up the stem. I love it! 

I'm so excited to be a part of AQC this year and to be sharing my love for applique in the LE2 workshop. For those of you who are in Melbourne in April, do head in and say hello. It's going to be a wonderful event and I'm really looking forward to meeting many new faces as well as familiar friends.

Love Entwined 2 (LE2) is a workshop based on the original Love Entwined. However, this version of the design is a larger focus of the centre applique block, as a wall hanging. It is an easier approach to Love Entwined with all the charm and enjoyment of the original. I'm delighted to be teaching it for the first time at AQC 2015.

Lily Rose: Finishing the Flower Heads

I'm very happy to report that I'm on a productive roll. My flower heads are just falling into place. This is all down to much preparation beforehand. It's really paying off now. After the template markings and allocating the light and dark shading, there's just a few minutes of fabric selection needed before I start cutting away and turn edge applique-ing all the flowers.

The first bloom I made, with the moody purple batik background, has really set the tone with a splash of yellows that are going to be repeated in the lillies and some purple hues - but brighter- which will happen in the lower flowers. I'll have a splash of pink in there too and of course, my rosebuds will be classically red or fuchsia, depending on how dark / shady the bouquet looks overall.

 Here I've lined up my fusible on various fabrics. because I always make repetitions for my flower applique stash, there may be duplicates here, so don't try to count them!

It's my pattern, but even I need to properly prep beforehand. I know it can be repetitive, but it's the best use of your time and resources.

 I can't wait to show you my bouquet!

Hopefully in time for WOW...

WOW: Lily Rose, a better bloom by far

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

After much umming and ahhhing I decided that the batik fabric belongs behind the bloom head. So I remade the bloom with a bright mid yellow and I think it looks great now. Sometimes it takes a bit of playing around to find the look you know is waiting for you. 

Because my blooms have a habit of growing, I'm keeping strictly to the pattern and checking it up against the template and background. Everything fits beautifully and its time to move on to the lily. 

What do you think of my leaves? I have fussy cut them from an old stash piece and the stroke work looks just like painted leaves. I love it, its a great touch. 

What's Your WOW ?

An InLinkz Link-up

FIVE THOUSAND MEMBERS!!

I just had to make a quick post to celebrate the fact that my Yahoo BOM Group now has over 5,000 members! The very first pattern I ever released was Red Delicious. I still LOVE that quilt. And I love knowing that there are hundreds of Red Delicious quilts out there. A few years ago, I was sent images from a 'Red Delicious' show that took place here in Australia and another over in the US. That really made my day and it's really what we're all about - making quilts!

We're more than just a quilting Group, we're a friendship Group as well, and I love seeing members from all over the world comment and and share images of their quilts, it's such a blessing to share in the pleasure of quilting with others from all walks of life. If you're a member, thank you for being part of my Yahoo BOM Group, I'm so glad you are.

A huge thank you to our Moderators who keep our Group spam and nuisance free as well as providing endless advice, tips, suggestions and encouragement. We're so blessed to have moderators who are also skilled quilters as well as being Yahoo Group savvy. And I really mean that, because without Moderators there would be no Group, I simply couldn't do it without them and simply wouldn't.  Thanks to our current moderators: Anne Marieke, Bunny, Pat and Glenda for being such a great team. And many thanks also to Jane who was such an important member of our moderating team for a while too. Of course, Moderators have busy lives like the rest of us and I'm grateful for the time they do or have spent making our Group work. It's a sacrifice and commitment I know we're all grateful for. Thank you.

My Yahoo BOM Group is open to any quilter who wants to or is making any of my patterns. Members are asked to follow Group Rules to keep communication friendly, on topic and spam free. Each year I release my original patterns in the Group for free to members. Membership is free and joining is free.

5,000 and growing !

Are you a member yet?

To celebrate 5000 members, I'm offering the Red Delicious & Cherry Thieves Table Runner patterns (my first free BOM patterns) at 50% off. Simply use coupon code "wow5000" in my shop at the checkout. All other patterns in my shop are 25% off this week only to allow members who missed out on any past free BOMs to buy any patterns they love at the best possible price. Simply use coupon code "wow25" at checkout to activate.

Red Delicious was my first ever free BOM. I still love it today and would make it again in a heartbeat (if I had the time) in a new colour scheme. Luckily for me, many of you did make it and this means that I've enjoyed seeing it made in many hues. The Cherry Thieves Table Runner below goes with Red Delicious and was also released for free back in 2008.