'This is my first charm swap and I was encouraged to participate by my daughter, Jen. I found it challenging to be given fabrics I hadn't chosen and to use colours I normally avoid, but I soon realised that all the colours and patterns had been designed by Heather Bailey, so from one designer, all different fabric colours would melt together into a harmonious whole'.
'Of course, loving gardens, my choice of pattern was to imitate rows of flowers, all unique, but growing beautifully together. I hope, in a small way, I have achieved that. By the time the double bed quilt is finished with the edging on, I will have used every scrap of my 224 charm squares'.
'Thank you Ms Midge for making this possible'.
Norma
As for me, well, I haven't made quite as much progress as Mum, but my quilt top is shaping up nicely and today i managed to play around with the layout a bit while The Hurricane was sleeping.
My Heather Bailey charm quilt is all about half square triangles (HST's) and orange peel petals and was inspired by Amy Gibson's (of Stitchery Dickory Dock) Tuileries quilt which was put together as part of the True Colors blog tour back in January, 2014. She used the True Colors and Lottie Da ranges of Heathers' fabric (read more about it and see some pics here).
I'm not sure how to go about quilting something like this, so would love to hear your suggestions if you're happy to share them.
Thanks to Ms Midge for hosting another great charm swap and charm along.
Jen
Linking up with:
- Ms Midge for the Heather Bailey Charm Along and
- Lorna for Lets Bee Social
I really like both quilt tops and how different the same fabric can look when used in different patterns! I would probably make sure that each orange peel is outlined when quilted and then leave the centers unquilted. Then I would probably choose a complimentary all over pattern to quilt over the HSTs and negative space around the orange peels, a meander comes to mind. I hope you enjoy the hand work, it looks like it is going to be a touch of color and beauty to work through. :)
ReplyDeleteLove both the quilts, especially your mum's. I'm a gardener too and I can see where she's going with it.
ReplyDeleteAs for quilting yours I would echo quilt around the orange peels and quilt a motif in the background section of the HSTS. That way all the Heather Bailey fabric is the star of the quilt
I am the wrong person to ask for quilting advice as that is where I come apart.
ReplyDeleteI love how your mum has created a perfectly blended colourwash effect with the fabrics.
I also think hand stitching the orange peels is the best way - you will get lovely curves by hand. Yours might be fun with at least accents of bright perle quilting by hand. (I am not necessarily suggesting you quilt the whole thing by hand!)
Wow you have both done something amazing with the charm squares - you're inspiring me to go and buy a pack or three! ... I would be tempted to quilt yours just in the ditch then maybe add some perle cotton hand stitching here and there :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful designs really show off the gorgeous fabric. I think hand quilting the outline of the orange peels would be really nice!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful way to show off gorgeous fabric !
ReplyDeleteI love your quilt top, but your mothers is amazing!!! I love the colors of this lovely fabrics. Have both fun with this projects.
ReplyDeleteI really love how different the two quilts are, just goes to show how versatile patchwork is! For quilting yours, I'm a big fan of straight line quilting at the mo, if you did this through the HSTs it could look like flowers stems for your petals, which I would definitely echo quilt. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThey are both so beautiful!
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