The only dry spots were actually on the massive tree! |
How cheerful is that? I made this from Connie's free Chinese Forget Me Not tutorial at her blog Freemotion by the River. It happens that she posted this tutorial a few days after I purchased some orange and yellow batiks. I loved the colors of my batiks, and Connie added the turquoise flowers and I was sold. It's so pretty! If that's not inspiration, I don't know what is.
Connie's tutorial is for an Accuquilt cutter, which I don't have, but it was easy enough to cut the pieces myself. The tutorial is really clear and it was pretty easy. I made the bias stems with my bias tape maker. The flowers are raw edged and are made from a poinsettia template I found on the Internet. Did you know that you can just use a soft pencil and trace the pattern right from your screen? It worked great!
I hope everyone noticed that this is actually quilted! To do that, I actually built the applique on top of the layered pieced top:
There is no fusible in this top. I just stitched it all down right through the layers, which quilted it as I went. The background has a simple meander that I actually did last, after all the applique was in place. This was not without problems:
Overall it worked out okay, though! I am really pleased with the finished product. It's so cheerful, and I love these two colors together (even though they seem to be strobing in the pictures). The one thing that I might do is add buttons to the flower centers so that they stand out a little better.
Hope everyone has a wonderful--and dry--weekend. We are going to the ballpark! I hope the rain is finished by then!
Sharing at Confessions of a Fabric Addict and crazymomquilts, and Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River.
10 comments:
I love this! Very striking and so very fun! Off to check out that tutorial. Thanks!
What a beautiful quilt! So summery. :)
Oh it's so happy and smiley. I love batiks and although yellow and orange are not my favourite colours for quilting I love them in batiks, strange. Thank you for making me smile.
Kate
The bright background and turquoise flowers are perfect together, Mari! They look like just the antidote for a rainy day.
I love your little quilt and the fabrics you chose. It's a happy one!
Very Cheery! I love that pieced background. The colors are stunning and the turquoise is perfect. I might add a few crystal beads to the centers to give it a bit of shimmer. Seems to go with the feel of it. Just a thought. Enjoy your weekend!
Tami
sewmuchforfreetime@blogspot.com
Oh, it IS cheery! Well done. I love using batik fabrics for raw edge Applique. I'm so inspired! I want to pull out all my batiks right this minute and get to work, but I have too much started right now. Maybe if I just pulled them out and set them where I can see them........
It's really cheerful! And beautiful! (I recognise Connie's style, with all those batiks in the background. lol) I think that your flowers would look fabulous with buttons. I wish you a sunny day!
This is a great mini for summer! I love the idea of adding buttons to the flowers - that will be a nice touch. Good job on this Mari - it is really sweet.
Wow Mari!!! This is just so beautiful! I really like the way you sewed down your flowers and like you, I love bias for stems! Thanks for the shout-out!
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