Still Fussing Over Pansies

I feel like I have been making pansies for about 100 years. With two HOYH quilts on the go, it just never ends. And look what I found at the bottom of my KFC stash! Yup, a gorgeous pansy print. If I had known I owned this (and I most certainly didn't know), I would have fussy cut the gorgeous heads instead of making them.

aren't they so pretty??

Which isn't to say that I don't love my created pansy motifs - because I do,

there's a skill and satisfaction in finding just the right fabrics making these characters come to life.

It's just that I have SO MANY things I'd like to make that anything to save me time is very welcome

Oh well, I suppose I can't complain about making my own pansy pattern, right?!

As Part 3 of HOYH approaches, I'm thinking non stop about my bright version of the quilt.

You know my gentle one? The one on the left hand side here in the pic, well that one is behaving beautifully. Sure, I still have to pick fabrics, but they behave themselves so well. Whereas I thought my 'bright' HOYH quilt would be the easy one, it's turning out to be a ridiculous circus of fabric switching. I have changed the background 7 times and I'm exhausted. You see that purple polka dot print? I'm back to that one. It's come full circle and was momentarily replaced by hot pink, pink stripes, olive stripes, the orange polka dots in the pansy images above, the yellow and grey polka dots in the image above and the KFD Aboriginal Dots. Phew, I'm exhausted. 

The only thing I can agree on is that 2019 is the year of polka dots. They just keep on happening. 

 '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!

'Wrapt In Love'

Wrapt In Love

$19.95
Complete Digital Pattern

OK, let’s talk big bold blooms because this design is all about abundant flowers!

Wrapt In Love is a quilt that demands your attention. The florals are large and showy, dominating the centre with their whimsy and style. Here are four unique flowers bursting with personality—for each one wants to be picked by you, wrapped up and finished with a bow. Each bouquet is titled after a woman’s name that means ‘love’: Amoris, Carita, Delaris and Elska.

Now, let’s talk about that bow—it takes pride of place in the centre of the quilt as a puffy looped beauty that is repeated in a smaller size in the border. And the fun doesn’t stop there: the centre sashing is a ribbon block and you can play this style element up or tone it down—it all depends on the colour you choose to run through your statement centre. And the surrounding squares are also the perfect spot to use up your favourite fabrics in some gorgeous stash busting, or simply fussy cut to make a real statement.

The border is made up of basket blocks that are topped with twirling vines—a real opportunity to show off those fabrics with either a complimentary or contrast scheme. Those baskets are big enough to let your favorite fabrics breath without taking over the design and the vines are ready for you to play with. Green? Red? Blue? It’s up to you!

WOW: More Pansies!

 WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

Well, it's true - you can't have too much of a good thing. These pansies just prove it. I've been working on these beauties (all 12 of them!) for hours and they still delight me. I just see little characters in those faces and I feel like they have a personality of their own, thanks to the fabric.

I have all my subtle heads and stems down. Today I need to embroider the veins on the leaves and add the tie that binds them too. Over in my Group, Bunny actually used some thin bias to 'bind' the stems and I really liked the look of it, so I think I will embroider one set and tie off the other, I'll see which works best with my fabrics. Then it's time to do the same for my 'bright' bunch. What was I thinking, taking on 2 quilts at the same time??

Phew, I'm all about these sweet little posies and I'm glad to me making progress. February was a hiccup month for me and I'm glad to see the back of it. Now, I'm back on track and happy to announce that the Free BOM Wrapt In Love will be revealed on Friday.

What's Your WOW?

An InLinkz Link-up

HOYH: My Pansy Progress

 

I'm making progress; with the light box out, I'm tracing the pattern on my corner squares

The pen I'm using is a Frixion pen. There's been a lot of discussion about these pens in the last few years - some people are concerned that they can 'ghost' stain the fabric. For me, I've never had this issue so I continue to use them. 

Another reason why I'm so at ease with using them is that when I trace the pattern onto the fabric, I trace the lines a tiny fraction inside the pattern outline. This means that when the applique motif goes down, it will cover up any drawn pattern lines completely. Actually, my lines simply brush off, but if there were to be any lines threatening to stain in the future, they're hidden under fabric anyway.

After prepping the background fabric squares, I move onto the pansy parts. I work in 'sections'. All good applique is a process of steps. Sometimes I work methodically through a design, other times I prep the individual pieces and bring them all together at a later stage. There's really no way to bypass the prep work. 

For me, all this prepping used to feel like such a chore. But now I have a different opinion about it - I don't impose deadlines on my work. This means I can really enjoy the process involved with each step without feeling like I have to reach some finish line within a set time idea. This allows me to treat each prep step with pleasure instead of 'process'. Here I'm ironing down the fusible shapes that will make the side petals of my pansy. I'm cutting them out on a 45 degree angle for the sake of fabric print arrangement. 

For my gentle colour scheme, I've gone with dark grey pansies. Actually, I think it's a dark blue, with it works well with the grey tones throughout the beige of my pallette.

I'm still playing around with the centre overlay motif. I might use this yellow as pinned above, or I might stitch the area with yellow threads on my machine to create some stitch painting instead. I'll see how I feel when I've got all 12 completed. 

 '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!

WOW: Pansy Production Line

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

It feels so good to be playing with applique again and I have lots to get through - because I'm making 2 x Hold Onto Your Heart quilts, I have 24 x pansy heads to make! First up, I'm working on the subtle quilt heads and after that, I'll run riot with some Kaffe Fassett prints for my bright version. There's nothing like cutting up some KFC to lift the mood after a grim week.

For my subtle heads, I'm heading towards darker pansies. I was really surprised to learn that a black pansy exists. As pansies represent thoughts, I liked the idea of moving into dark shades to represent strong ideas and definitive thoughts and it makes sense on my subtle quilt because I don't want my pansies washing out into the background, I want them to stand out. As you can see in the pic above, I'm still playing around with how to balance the streak of yellow. I'll be experimenting today.

What's Your WOW?

An InLinkz Link-up

HOYH: Magic Applique Mirrors

Do you have one of these mirrors? I love them for helping me pick my fussy cuts and for finding potential in fabric prints - and you know how much I like playing with fabric. Well, this mirror method is addictive.

I have a few of these mirrors in my stash, this is just the one I pulled out today. I find that they're each as good as the other and I don't have a preference.

When it comes to picking out fabric for fussy cutting, the mirror method really helps. Especially for me, because sometimes I just love a fabric because it's beautiful and I have a hard time letting it go.. even though it won't work in the design. The mirror shows me the NO before I make any cutting commitments.

Nope, this fabric doesn't want to be used in my centre star.. NEXT!

 Oooh I like this potential star design, it's looks so folky - bit it doesn't feel right for HOYH.

This one below creates a kind of wild flower motif which is so lovely.. but again, doesn't 'feel' right

You can see I really loved this print because I refused to give up on it!

I tried it several ways

And each way changed the mood and feel of the strar

Nope, I didn't like this option either..

but I couldn't stop trying to get this fabric in the centre..

Until I stumbled across this beige foliage mix. 

Although the fussy cutting is so subtle, I do love the effect. 

And that grey that I was determined to get into the star found it's home in another layer.

Yep, sometimes you've just got to let the quilt tell you what it wants. 

HOYH definitely has it's own mind and I'm loving each step in the learning curve as I get there.

And the Applique Mirror is a real help and must have for fabric enthusiasts like me!

HOYH: Settled On My Heartfelt Centre

This is my heartfelt centre in the soft beige color scheme. I love it, it's really speaking to me. 

Originally I had my heart set on a true monochromatic scheme of greys but when my selected fabrics arrived, there were a lot of muted browns throughout the range which were nice and subtle, but too low contrast for me. Immediately I realized that this wasn't going to be a true monochromatic after all, that I would have to introduce some extra shades and make the grey work as a complimentary rather than a shaded scheme and you know what? That's fine. I always say that a plan is a good idea.. but I let the quilt guide me. And Hold Onto Your Heart is really calling the shots here.

My first 'background' fabric selection was this subtle yellow check. It's a soft yellow that calls out the very slight yellow shading in the grey print above. This grey floral is my contrast fabric in the quilt and I love how the yellow enhanced it so gently. I knew the quilt would shimmer and keep the eye moving with this kind of colour balance. I purchased enough for the whole quilt background and then some, I was set.

Or so I thought.

Look at this grey toned muted floral, isn't it a dream?

With my spotted grunge in the Heartfelt Centre, the fabric tones shifted just a bit .. and I now feel that this floral is a better match for the quilt background than the yellow.. which now feels a bit boring.

Yes, it's another fabric change. But what else is new? I know better than to fight the quilt, it will have it's way with my fabric selections, I just have to learn to listen. 

 And this is my back. 

Now it's time for me to head on over to the Group and get inspired by all the lovely centres coming together over there.

 '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!