Tiptoe Through The Tulips..

Tulips have featured in my designs from the very beginning. In fact this quilt, 'In The Pink' was one of my first patterns and I still love it as much today and when I first made it over 9 years ago. Yes, I said NINE years ago. Wow, time travels fast when you're a designer. But you know what? When I look at this beauty, I realize that I have learnt a lot and I've made many more patterns since, but I would still design this stunning quilt today - I love it that much.

This is one of the rare quilts I actually use on my bed. I shake it out of the cupboard every March and I love how the pink brightens up my room. It reminds me of spring gardens, and of tulips on the dining table and of family and of course, of Easter. This is the quilt that's always on my bed come Easter and I'm always reminded that Red Tulips represent passionate love. I made this one in pink tulips because my DD is a pink girl and she loves this quilt as much as I do and she has had her eye on it for years! We all know it's really 'hers' I'm just borrowing it until the next bed quilt comes along.

Unfortunately for her, she has to wait because most of my quilts end up as wall quilts - they're so beautiful I want to look upon them as art pieces, which they rightfully are, even if I do say so myself!  I did start 'Tickled Pink' for her, which is a stunning one block wonder that's still in the WIP pile. And now that I think of it, every quilt with the work pink in it is.. somehow all down to her!

I love the language of flowers and as each tulip colour has it's own meaning, you can change the mood by changing the colours.

I still have plans to make this quilt again using monochromatic blues with Indigo tulips, a kind of 'black tulip' theme, I think it would be so cool and sophisticated.

Because it would take several lifetimes for me to make all my quilts in all the colorways I dream of, I always secretly hope that someone out there will make it in that pallette so I can ooohhh and ahhhhh over their beauty without having to create it myself. Well, I can dream, can't I??

   In The Pink   

Complete PDF Digital Pattern 

Finished Size 87 x 87 inches

$12.95 USD

Buy Digital Pattern Now

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HOYH: Part 3 is launched

'Hold Onto Your Heart' : Block of the Month, Part 3

This month it's time to create the frames for the Heartfelt Centre and Pansy blocks. 

I'm so happy with the direction my 'gentle' is taking, the fabrics are so dreamy and the floral of the contrast fabric feels perfect. My scalloped pansy frame looks beautiful against my pansy background grunge polka dot. This quilt is really taking shape and I'm looking forward to each new installment.

HOYH Makers, the Part 3 pattern files are already waiting for you over in the Members Only Download Area. Click here to LOGIN.

'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: My Heart Shaped Stash

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

2019 is really turning out to be a busy year for me, design wise - my feet haven't touched the floor!

My Hold Onto Your Heart progress is making a nice dent in my stash mountain and I love seeing things take shape like this. 

Today I'm working on Hold Onto Your Heart; this quilt grows on you. I find myself really digging in and taking my time over every little thing. I had been planning on making Wrapt In Love, my newest design, but have my hands are full with my two HOYH beauties. I think today I'll do some more prep work. Applique is always about the prep. Time to get stuck in!

What's Your WOW?

An InLinkz Link-up

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!