A complete turnaround ….

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 changed my mind and my design. 

1.  No points.

2.  No inner curves.

3.  Use the finest needle I can manage (Milliners 10).

4.  Use polyester thread.

5.  MAKE IT BIG.

I went with the daisy design I had originally drawn, but I wanted curves instead of angles. I researched how to make much better centres, dug out a roll of wrapping paper, and played around with my new idea.

I made new templates, and did a practice piece first.

I like!  Much happier with the happy daisy rather than the droopy flower which really made me droop!

I’ve sewed the first stem and centre. Now I feel I’m truly on the right track.

And my quilt will be called ‘Daisy’.