Hubblebird's Quilt Blog

Bramble Blooms Pt 2 …. Update This has truly been a journey. I am very thankful to Audrey for starting me on it as I am learning a lot. I have a question too, so if anyone cares to try and answer that would be great. Thank you to other students who are commenting on my progress because it is very encouraging. Unfortunately I can’t respond on Google for some reason and will have to wait until I see my son in a couple of weeks to help sort out whatever the problem is. I’m loving everyone else’s designs and ideas! So, here is a pic of progress so far. I think you can immediately tell that I’m improving with each flower. The middle one was the first, then came the flower to the left, and I’ve sewn one petal for the flower on the right. A close look at the blue petals will reveal a hare in four of the petals. I think there is a pheasant in one of the other petals (because I didn’t have five hares that I could fussy cut).  Hares and pheasants would definitely feature in a bramble patch!  The

Bramble Blooms Pt 2 Update After watching many hours of YouTube vids and tutorials, I finally made the templates for my Droopy Flower and stitched down the first flower.  Sadly, I just didn’t like it. I still didn’t like my background and the stitching on my appliqué was terrible.  I went back to square one.  First I had to tackle the eyesight issue. I mean, how many pairs of specs does it take to needle turn appliqué?  I also had to accept that I simply can’t sew at night. It has to be in daylight seated with my back to the window.  The cheap plastic 3x specs I keep in my handbag for when I go grocery shopping and have to read those pesky food labels without a magnifying glass won out.  Next I resurrected one of the discarded backgrounds. I like the buttery colours and fabrics much more than the my original pieced background. And I finally found something in an old quilt mag to help me to square it up properly. Then, having watched all those needleturn appliqué tutorials, I completely

Bramble Blooms Pt 2 Since my last post, when I actually managed to prepare the centrepiece for the Quilty Folk QAL , I have been stuck, if not entangled, in what to do next. Convinced that my lack of creativity for the blooms in the centre was because my centrepiece was boring, I made two more centrepieces and discarded both, as they still didn’t get the creative juices flowing.   And, right from the start I have grappled with the title of Bramble Blooms, which to me conjures up an English country scene with thickets of brambles, blackberries, wildflowers, rabbits, blackbirds and the green green grass of home.  One idea was lilies on a lake - what the heck has that got to do with brambles I asked myself.  Another was to feature Australian inspired flowers - the warratah and banksia spring to mind, and are still lurking there. Obviously I was taking the title too literally, because as a glance at the links for the QAL will show, other quilters are using their interpretation of bramble b

I finally finished my  prints on solids quilt , which I am very happy with. At the time I was making it, I planned to hand quilt it and my local quilt shop recommended using 100% bamboo batting. In the end I could not get my quilt stitches to look as nice as I wanted, so I gave up and straight line quilted it with my walking foot instead. However, I found the bamboo batting very messy to deal with and I was constantly sneezing. I also find it rather cold - it seems to wick body heat away - has anyone else experienced this? I won’t be using 100% bamboo batting ever again.  I quilted this in a cross-hatch diagonal with my walking foot. I love the brown and orange backing which I found as a remnant at my local quilt shop. I’ve decided to join Audrey’s - Quilty Folk - slow quilt along.  I have admired her work for many years and this is a chance to learn how to be a lot more creative with my quilts. Applique will be a first for me.  Hand quilting is an almost first - even though I have tr