Bloggers' Quilt Fest - Flora and Fauna Parts of the Garden

Nominations are now open for the Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side.  Viewing and voting begins on May 24 and it closes on May 29. Each quilter may enter two quilts in eleven categories. There are wonderful prizes available to be won for those who enter quilts and for readers too! To be entered to win a prize all you have to do is leave a comment here! If you would like to enter a quilt or two go here. You have until May 23rd to enter!

I expect there will be loads of entries so it will be a great way to go to a quilt show from the comfort of your home! I know I'll be making myself a lovely cuppa and then I'll settle back and be inspired by the display of wonderful quilts! It will also be a great way to discover new blogs!

I have decided to enter two quilts. Today I'll tell you about the first one. I entered Flora and Fauna, Parts of the Garden in the small quilt category (more than 80" but less than 240") . My quilt measures 29" square.

Flora and Fauna, Parts of the Garden by Karen H

Flora and Fauna was a challenge quilt. My Guild offered kits for $10 and each included three fat quarters from Northcott. None of the fabrics were meant to go together and if fat they had nothing in common. That made for a huge challenge! The rules allowed for six additional fabrics. The bright blue circle in the center was one of the challenge fabrics. I also used the wrong side of that fabric to give me a lighter blue and it was the first ring around the center circle. The red and black butterfly wings were cut from the second fabric which was long-stem red roses on a black background. I used the black background to cut parts of the chickadees (little birds).

The third fabric was pink, purple and yellow flowers and leaves on a white background. I used the background for the white on the chickadees.

The flowers were fussy cut for the wings on butterflies,

I also used the green leaves to create this praying mantis!

The fancy leaves, the little flowers and the grasshopper body were all cut from a single fabric. The fabric had a pale creamy background which I used for the chickadees and the print on this fabric was all sorts of flowers and leaves in a wide variety of colours. This provided me with a wide range of design possibilities.

To the fancy floral fabric I added three green (two of which were medium and one light for the border), one pale blue (pictured above)  and a brown mottled print (also pictured above). In the picture above you can see the blue, the mottled brown and the band of green is actually the two medium greens.

I added lots of embroidered details to embellish the quilt and then I hand quilted the whole thing.

The walking stick insect (upper right) was cut from the stem of one of the long-stem red roses! I love the red ants and their tunnels but they do have a nasty bite!

This is one of my favourite small quilts that I have made. I started with a little idea which was the sky in the center and the ground as the border and then it just grew and developed from there. As I went along I just appliqued and embroidered until I had had enough. At that point I knew it was done and it was time to hand quilt!

Tomorrow I'll write about the second quilt I will enter! I'm not sure which one it will be. I'm considering Stars in the Loft,

or perhaps Mom's Flower Bed. The floral fabric I used for all the leaves, berries and bugs in Flora and Fauna, Parts of the Garden was used to make this quilt.

I'm also considering entering Cherry Blossom or perhaps Loopers in the Sky with Diamonds!

I'll have to make my decision in the next day or two but value your input so if you have any suggestions I am open to them!  If you have quilts of which you are proud why not consider entering them? It is a great way to share your work with a wider, friendly audience!

Until I post again, happy sewing!
Karen H

Nostalgia Quilt and New Quilting Gallery Show and Tell

It is a short post today because I want to work on Alex’s quilt that I wrote about yesterday. I've run into big problems (the backing is not smooth) so I've going to have to take out all of the quilting I've done. ARGGGHHH! I hate reverse sewing!  I think I'll take a break and instead work on writing up the instructions for making Baskets and Nine Patches!

 

Close-up of Flora and Fauna

 

The Quilting Gallery’s Show and Tell theme this weekend is applique. I entered Flora and Fauna, Parts of the Garden. I posted close-ups of the quilt under the tab Flora and Fauna, Parts of the Garden at the top of this page. There are so many of beautiful applique quilts entered in the Show and Tell. Voting is open until Monday at 6:00pm EDT. This time are three votes per URL. To see all of the quilts and vote for your favourite here!

Today I’ve got a few more pictures of my Mom’s Nostalgia quilt. This weekend I’ll post her story about this quilt, a few more close-up picutres and the quilt.

 

 

 

Until I post again, happy sewing!

Flora and Fauna, Parts of the Garden - the reveal!

I hope you enjoyed the close-up shots of my quilt “Flora and Fauna, Parts of the Garden”. I did it this way because there is so much to see in the quilt and one picture of the whole just wouldn’t allow you to see the many details. Revealing the quilt in this way was also a journey of discovery for me ; I completely forgot that I embroidered one lonely snail in the garden! I’d been photographing the quilt for a week and only discovered the snail yesterday! All of the applique work was needle turn and many of the leaves were fussy cut from one of the six fabrics that I added to the three challenge fabrics. Did you figure out what the quilt might look like? Yes? No? Well here we go – but I can’t resist one more tease so I’ll start from the centre of the quilt and work my way out! Drum roll please…………
 

The centre.....

and a little further out....

 

and a little further out.......

 

Flora and Fauna, Parts of the Garden, 2008   28 ½” X 28 ½”

And there you have it – the finished quilt! I hope you enjoyed the picture I posted this week. I would love to hear what you thing so feel free to comment!

 

 

 

If you would like to try something similar here is my advice. Enjoy the creative process and the rhythm of handwork and focus on the thing you are doing at that moment. If you are appliqueing a leaf, focus on that, not the other 20 that have to be stitched. And it bears repeating, enjoy the process every stitch of the way! Oh, and it isn't a race so make it in your own time!

The Quilting Gallery Show and Tell quilts theme this weekend is squares and rectangles. Pop on over and vote for your favourite before Monday at 6:00pm (EDT)! I am a guest judge so I’ll be casting my votes as well. Next week’s Show and Tell theme is wall hangings and the following week is applique. I think will enter quilts in both. When I make my decision about which quilts to enter I’ll let you know and I’ll post some pictures! 

Tomorrow I will have a new tutorial for you so be sure to come back for a visit! Until I post again, happy sewing!

Last Flora and Fauna teasers before the reveal!

I’ve had so much fun exploring my quilt Flora and Fauna, Parts of the Garden. This morning while sorting through the pictures for today’s post I found something hiding in the garden, something I had forgotten! Contrary to what I had previously said, there is in fact one snail hiding in this garden!

 

The snail

In addition to the three challenge fabrics (long stem red roses on a black background, bright turquoise with metallic dragonflies and pink, purple and orange asters on a white background) the rules allow for six fabrics additional fabrics. The six I added were a light blue for the sky, a brown print for the earth, three green prints (I used a pale green for the border and the other two for leaves) and the sixth was a busy print on a buttery colour background.

Six added fabrics

 

The three added greens



Many of the flowers, leaves, berries, butterfly bodies and grasshopper bodies were cut from the busy fabric with the buttery background.

 

I love the chickadees; there are four of them and they measure 2 ½” from head to tail. I used the black background from the roses, the white background from the asters (there are some areas where I caught a bit of the mauve from the asters because the white areas just weren’t very large) and I used some of the buttery background from my sixth fabric for their creamy little bellies.

 

 

 

And here are the last of the teasers!

 

Leaves fussy cut from the buttery fabric

 

 

Butterfly cut from aster fabric

 

Another butterfly from aster fabric

 

Strawberries and leaves fussy cut from buttery fabric - the berries are crawling with ants!

Background is one of the challenge fabrics

 

 

 

Well maybe just one more teaser! That buttery colour fabric I used for all the berries and leaves and critters? I just love it for fussy cuts and have made two other quilts with the fabric. Here are a couple of pictures of what I did with the fabric! So much fun!

 

 

 

That’s it until the reveal tomorrow! My sewing machine beckons so until I post again, happy sewing!

Tiny World Make-Do Pincushion and more teasers from Flora and Fauna!

I love pincushions! They are practical and they can be so whimsical! Over the years I’ve made a few and collected a few. Recently I came across a pincushion pattern titled “Tiny World Make-Do Pincushion” designed by Mimi Kirchner. I bought it from her Etsy shop for $10 and it arrived in my inbox shortly thereafter! These little houses in teacups are totally adorable and so much fun to make. The instructions are well written, well-illustrated and easy to follow. The pattern calls for wool roving for the "world" but I am frugal by nature so I decided to make-do with what I had on hand which was pantyhose and fibrefill. It worked just fine. And here is my first tiny world make-do pincushion.

I had so much fun making this pincushion – I’ve already started a second . In fact think I might want to make an entire village! Guess I’ll have to make some trips to the local Sally Ann Thrift Shop for teacups, mugs and other suitable vessels if my tiny world is going to expand!

And now for a few more “Flora and Fauna, Parts of a Garden” teasers. I tracked down one of the challenge fabrics, Romancing the Rose. It is definitely not my cup of tea - the dramatic print did not appeal nor did the colours. So I had to figure out how to use the components in a way that would be appealing to me. At the end of the day I want something I am happy with.

So after a good long think I came up with some ways to use the fabric that were interesting to me. I used the stem of the rose to make the walking stick insect (there is such an insect) and I used the rose blossoms to make the toadstools. A bit of the rose and the black background were used to make the butterfly wings.

From my perspective the key benefit of participating in a fabric challenge is that I am forced to look at the fabric in new and interesting ways. The result can be very exciting and it can be applied to non-challenge projects.

I have a few more teasers for tomorrow and then it will be time for the reveal! I hope that this images are giving you some ideas about reinterpreting your fabric in new ways. You don't just have to cut strips, squares or triangles!

And it isn't too late to enter a quilt made of just squares and rectangles in Quilting Gallery's Show and Tell Works in progress can be entered too! So take a picture of your quilt and enter. I've been invited to be a guest judge this week.

Until I post again, happy sewing!