Sun, moon and pigweed

The gardening continues! The next block for the border of Gardens of a King quilt is purslane. Purslane is a highly nutritious, edible plant also know as pigweed. I had lots of bits of green scraps so I put them to good use in this block!

Nice, nice, very nice but it needs a little something! How about another butterfly? Done! Here is the block with the butterfly and the frame.

I'm pleased with how this one turned out! It will look great on the green border fabric.

I had previously shared the sun face that will go in one corner. I used one of the pieced patterns for the pieced compass and then used my Sakura Pigma Pens to draw the face in the middle.

I've now cut out the border fabric and layered it on the sun face block to see how it will look and it will look just fine!

I wanted a complementary block for the opposite corner in the border so I decided to make a moon face! Once again I used my Sakura Pigma Pens but this time I chose a piece of gold fabric. I ironed a piece of grocery store freezer paper to the wrong side to stabilize the fabric. I used my Frixion pen to draw the outline and when I was happy I took the Sakura pens to the fabric. A pen with a thicker tip (size 05) was used for the outline of the face and the features and a very fine tip pen (size 005) was used for thin lines and the shading.

I wanted to surround the face with rings so I got out a piece of paper and a compass to draft the rings. This is the finished block all glued together and just waiting to be stitched! I can't wait to try out the green border fabric to see how it will look when it is finished!

Here are the two blocks together. I think they look very nice! They are not part of the pattern designed by Missie Carpenter of Traditional Primitives but I am a firm believer in adding your own personal touches to a quilt to personalize it! It could be as simple as following the pattern and using prints and colours that speak to you or it could be the addition of little details or swapping out a block or two for one of your own design.

I hope you enjoyed what I've shared today. I've still got work to do on this quilt and I've promised to machine a friend's quilt before Christmas so it is time for me to get cracking. Until I post again, happy sewing!
Karen H

How are you? I am sew, sew!

I've been busy sewing up a storm any time I can find a few minutes! I made these two Gardens of a King blocks. All of the block patches are prepared with the English paper piecing method, starch and the Starch Brush from Missie of Traditional Primitives. I experimented with different construction methods and found the one that worked best for me!

Missie's pattern for Gardens of a King (it will be available soon) was inspired by the King George III Coverlet. This is the original.

What you can`t see very clearly in this picture is that there are some blocks with mariner`s compass style blocks with sun faces in the middle. There are two on either side of the top of the centre medallion and one on its lower left side. I decided to try to conduct an experiment using Missie`s technique and my pattern drafting skills. My first step was to draft a pattern. It took a little while but I figured it out! I drew the face on a piece of muslin with my Sakura pigma pens and then prepared all of the mariner`s compass patches with freezer paper and starch. I reverse appliqued the face to the first round of the compass.

I then stitched the rest of the mariner`s compass and added it to the sun face. This is the finished block; it measures 11" across.

If you would like to learn more about Missie's technique for English paper piecing with starch go here.

I've also finished one more Lozagons block! The pink and white print hexagons around the centre are more scraps from the bag of Dresden plate blades that I bought at a church basement sale. I like the red and white gingham in this one because I think it adds a little tension!

If you haven't been over to Amy's Creative Side for Blogger's Quilt Festival I encourage you to visit. There are some wonderful quilts entered including Mary's Soupcon quilt which you can also see on her blog! Be sure to nominate your three favourite quilts (the deadline is October 31) and then come back between November 1 and 7 and vote for your favourites in each category including those in Viewer's Choice! I've registered 81 The Giant Monstrosity in Home Machine Quilted and Cherry Blossom in Original Design. I would be honoured and privileged if you would consider nominating and/or voting for either of my quilts!

81 The Giant Monstrosity (pattern coming soon)

Cherry Blossom (free pattern available under Patterns by Karen H)

Today little Jinx is off to the vet to have his "pockets picked"!  He'll have the surgery and spend the night in the hospital. He'll be home tomorrow. Poor old Gumby (or Gummy as we've started calling him since he had some teeth extracted) will be glad for the peace and quiet!

On Friday I'll publish  block 15 in my Value Proposition Hexagon Quilt Along! Hope you like it! I haven't decided which block it will be but one thing is for sure.....it will be one of my favourites!

Until I post again, happy sewing!
Karen