Flowers in Vases

I loved every minute of making this little quilt.

It measures roughly 31" x 25".

I started by sewing the vases of flowers using needle turned applique with embroidered stems and adding a little embroidery to the vases. When almost completed I did some shading and colouring with Inktense pencils - that was a bit scary as I could so easily have ruined all that applique work! This is a before and after using the Inktense.

Here is a link to the drawings of the flowers in their vases if you'd like to use them anytime. They measure roughly 5" x 7". -  Flowers in Vases

My applique was sewn on a cream fabric measuring 6" x 8" plus seam allowance. I sewed a strip of 8 flying geese 2" x 8" to the right hand side, 4 geese 8" x 1" to the top, a 2" x 9" strip of strings of scrappy fabrics to the left hand side and 5 square within square blocks measuring 2" x 2" to the bottom. This made an interesting block 10" x 11" ....... or thereabouts. (add seam allowance to all these measurements)

The string strips are so handy as they mean you can adjust the width of the block, if need be, before adding the squares at the bottom. I sewed all the flying geese by the "no waste flying geese" method in SuzyQuilts - Super Simple Flying Geese Tutorial

These are the other 4 blocks

You can see that I have used the Inktense pencils on the petals, vase and some of the leaves. I always imagine that the light is coming from the top left-hand corner. I was tempted to add a shadow of the vase on the cream fabric but was too frit!

I sewed two rectangular blocks as below to fit to the top and bottom of the middle flower/vase block. These measure 10" x 6½ "

I joined the 2 blocks on the left, and on the right, with another string strip so that I could match the length this made with the centre panel, by adjusting the width of this strip.

These are the 3 panels that make up the quilt

I quilted by machine along some of the seams and by hand around the applique and in the small yellow squares.

I sewed a narrow green border to the top and both sides of the quilt and then added binding in a blue and white fabric which I had used sparingly in the string strips.

And a final look:

Mixed in with the pleasure of a finish is the rather peculiar feeling of loss - this quilt doesn't need me anymore!! Best move on to the next ...... quickly!

Happy Days - Anita x

Afterthought ........ this photo edited pic gives an idea of what the blocks would look like made up into a larger quilt.