Oma's Blues - The Vase

The focal point of Oma's Blues is the centre panel which depicts a large Delft Style platter with a vase of flowers. It will in time be surrounded by other plates and tiles as the quilt grows.

I read an email posted to Esther's Yahoo group recently which asked the question

"How did you make the Vase?"

In places the contrast stripes on the Vase are quite small and fiddly, so I decided to make them slightly differently. It is something that works for me and I hope that this tutorial may help someone.

* * * * * * * * * * *

I used the Freezer paper method.

Prepare and cut out the templates.

Marking which part of the piece sits under the next.

I have only made the Vase background.

Iron the Freezer paper to the FRONT of the fabric.

Cut out and Peel the fabric from the paper.

Place the paper sticky side UP on the BACK of the fabric.

Gently press the seam allowance OVER and ONTO the sticky side of the freezer paper.

For the Contrast down the vase -

Cut 3/4 inch BIAS strips

Fold and press lightly in HALF 

(do not stretch) .

Spritz the Bias tape lightly with spray starch. 

Working on a copy of the Vase and using a hot iron gently mould the bias along the pattern lines.

You will need to trim or lightly clip on a couple of tight curves.

At this point I pinned my contrast along the pattern at the SEAM line.

Placing my previously made Vase piece against the pins,  securing with some small dabs of glue baste.

I can now applique these two pieces together.

Continue this way with the rest of the pieces.

Place all the pieces together using the pattern as a template.

Applique using your chosen method of stitching.

Continue with the base of the Vase.

Note:  

This vase was constructed specifically for this tutorial, using Batik fabric and is not the one I will be using in my quilt.

Oma's Blues

I've got sidetracked....

I wasn't going to make this quilt....

But then - 

- the pattern book for my next big project, won't arrive until end of April.

And I need a rest from Foundation Paper Piecing.

So what has piqued my interest?

OMA'S BLUES

a new BOM by Esther Aliu

I haven't done any applique since I finished Heart's Desire, so I have had to reacquaint myself with the process.

After spending an unproductive day trying to remember how I did it, 

'googling' methods and watching videos 

I remembered .... 

I'd bought THE book!

I have it on good advice that this is THE BOOK on applique.

Don't get me wrong.... There are many good tutorials online, but nothing quite compares to sitting down with a good instruction manual in hand

 and actually using it!

How many of us persevere with 'make do' when we have the right tool for the job

 and have forgotten we bought it?

Bali Wedding Star - The Binding

"A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step"

or in this case a single stitch

I shudder to think just how many miles of stitching has gone into making this quilt.

My Bali Wedding Star has now been beautifully quilted by Desley, and
 I have finally laid it onto my machine for the last time.
 A very careful hour later the binding had been sewn all around.

Before I started I did some research and found a tutorial
(from the Missouri Quilt Company) that suggested taking the machine off on an angle at each corner - rather than stopping 1/4" short or sewing straight off.....

Wow - what a difference that made!
The stitching created a firm 45 degree angle to fold the binding against.
I have never had corners so neat.


All that is left to do is hand stitch the binding and remember a label.
- And a photo -

My Beautiful Rose

Shakespeare wrote in Romeo & Juliet

 "A Rose by any other name would smell as sweet"

It has long lost it's label so I can't tell you what it is

It grows on the fence beside the garage -

Never watered or fertilized.

Yet I wake some mornings with the heady fragrance 

of this beautiful bloom

on my pillow.

Everyday is Valentine's Day.

Mariner's Compass - The Rings

Goodness - was my last post almost a month ago?

Things have been pretty hectic here but in between the Chaos and Catastrophes I find some small spots of Calm when I can pull aside to do something for me. (Even if it IS a Quilt for someone else!)

Since my last Blog post I have been working on THE RINGS of the Quiltworx Mariner's Compass.

There are two sets of rings, designed to look like ROPE.  The Inner ring weaves it's way through the major elements of the quilt locking the Spokes together with the Sails and skipping in and out of the Feathered Star points.


The Outer Ring sits behind the design, giving the illusion that the Compass is resting upon it and forms a circular outer border before being tied together with the background fabric.

I have spent a LOT of time trying to get the colours and fabric right for the 'look' I want this quilt to have and when I got to the rings I wanted to make the chosen colours appear to be consistent as they disappeared and then reappeared out the other side.

The process I used to make sure my rings did just that involved a lot of photocopying, sticky tape and colouring in with highlighter pens!

The inner ring I used 4 fabrics, keeping the colours consistent with 2 being completely hidden under the feathered star and 2 for the Spikes.
The larger outer rings were a bit easier - I found 5 fabrics worked well with just 3 colours hiding under the points of the Sails.

I am now at the point where I start sewing it all together - but THAT will have to wait for a day or two when I can concentrate!


In the meantime - I am toying with colour selection for my NEXT quilt............

Bali Wedding Star.

I came to a point the other day where I found myself counting corners

one corner, two.. three .... four....

That's four corners done....

It's DONE - YAY!

my Top is finished!!

I did need a bit of a reshuffle in the sewing room to set up my extra awesome 

1800x 600 Ironing board and even then it was not big enough.

The box lid said the quilt was 80" x  80"

but what it didn't say was, that also in the box were the patterns and instructions to square up the quilt, 

add a Flying Geese border 

and another plain 6" mitred border.

So now how big is it?

106" x 106"

Mahal Magic - and Cricket

As they say - If you don't like the weather in Melbourne, Just wait 5 minutes!
Yesterday we had it all - Hot, Wind, Thunder, Rain, Cold, more Heat, Humidity.

The weather being unsettled meant that I was unsettled - I needed to put my feet up but my hands wanted to DO something.
So I settled on the couch with a Quilt that I was part way through binding, reached for the remote and turned on the Cricket.

All of me was happy!

Australia was playing India in the Sydney Test match - and then I realised - spread out between me and the TV was ....  Mahal Magic from Leesa Chandler's Passage to India fabric range.


The Test Match will continue for another 2 days (If India lasts that long), but the Quilt is finally finished.

Here is a close up of the quilting -

The pattern is called "Joust" - an all over design quilted by Desley Maisano that just seemed to fit the Indian Theme of the Quilt.